Otherside of the Sun
by KyoshiKaze
Summary: [Story set 1 year before game] Hojo released another one of his prized specimans and it seems that he's slowly creating another Sephiroth. VincentxOCReno[onesided]
1. Lead me, my wish

**A/N:** Well, I've decided to post this up on here. It may seem like a Reno story at first, so hold on tight until Vincent comes. If you're looking forward to having the character and Vincent meet up within the next 10 chapters, then you may start to get impatient. If you get all "D " with me, then I'll just reply with a "Don't you ever read the author's note? You know, the bold, underlined A/N?" or it may be ignored.

**Disclaimer:** Just like every other girl, we wish we could own the character. Vincent Valentine or Final Fantasy VII is not mine to own. But the OC, Shuurai (Nanashi) is mine.

* * *

_ I awoke after the dream._

_Welcome to the end of this road of lies._

_The fire steadily burns out, I look to heaven_

_I'll revive myself with the glow I took away._

_This feeling, gaining speed,_

_Lead me, my wish._

_Fly away my wish,_

_To the other side of the sun._

_-Hyde_

* * *

"Specimen 62a is going along accordingly. Now if only Specimen 762b would correspond with my treatments" The scientist tapped the tank of Specimen 762b with a pen, frowning at it's deformation.

"Just how long will you keep _playing_ with your experiments? Just remember who's money you're working under, and for, so don't mess this up" Rufus ran a hand through his silky blonde hair. Just how much time does he have hairdressers standing there, cleansing it and styling it everyday?

Professor Hojo sneered at the young vice-president. "Don't think you have the power to order me around, leave that to your _daddy_" he glared.

Rufus narrowed his eyes; not pleased with the respect that he was not getting from Hojo.

"Would you like to get removed from your experiments and leave you with nothing? Just remember that I know what you're doing with the extra money you ordered" Rufus challenged, walking out of the laboratory with the Turks on his side.

How Hojo hated to be ordered around, all he wanted to do was get his experiments done with. And no mere 22-year-old is going to screw him over this time, not even with his rather true facts.

"Yes, Specimen 762a should please him, it'll please the whole world of what it's capable of doing" Hojo marveled at the beautiful figure displayed within its tank.

A female, age 13. Although she's rather young, but time and experimenting with in that tank has matured and possibly beautified her with the chemicals he tested in her. And much to his amazement, it all was natural. He just sped the development a bit faster, leaving her skin acne free, almost immune to clogged pours it seemed.

The facial features that Hojo cherished the most were her eyes. Although closed now, once opened, it'd be a very clear blue. Her hair was an ashen brown, almost appearing as if her brown hair had a tint of ash in it, making it a rather faded, yet beautiful color.

And also, once her eyes were opened, they'd be very familiar to the past general's eyes. Cat-like, the eye type that demands respect and gratitude for _existing_.

The door opened, causing Hojo's lips to curl up in a snarl.

"What do you want? I'm busy" he snapped, turning his sharp eyes to the figure who walked in.

The man was dressed in a blue ironed suit. His button-up shirt beneath the blue coat was white and had a red tie. His shoes were clean, almost not a speck of dirt placed on them with the dignified walk he carried himself with. His shoulders and arms were straight with pride, along with his shoulder length hair. His eyes were a dark brown and slanted in such a way that reminded himself of the one particular Specimen.

"Ah, a Turk. Now tell me, what do you feel now that one of your _kind_ is now being treated under me? Especially when it's someone close to your family." Hojo smirked, his cheek curving his eye up almost eerily.

Tseng stood there, face void of emotion as ever, not wrinkling his skin the slightest bit with the anger he locked away. Hojo always got on his nerves, testing his patience with the disrespect he labeled his people with. But instead, he stood there; calm as ever yet had this sharp look in his eye that warned he would not take such insults so freely.

"Sir Shin-Ra demands a report on Specimen 762a, Shuurai, within the following week" Tseng played his orders while turning his back towards the professor, showing that he won't be taking anymore of his bullshit.

Hojo groaned, yet sneered once before imitating what the Turk has done.

"Just wait 762a, you'll be ready soon. But first, how about we change that name of yours" he chuckled, mumbling names to himself that sounded absolutely absurd to Tseng.

Clenching his fist slightly, Tseng carried himself out the door appearing unaffected. Yet inside he was sparked with rage, almost ashamed of himself that he was able to walk among the continent people, but only by the chance of his half-blood. Although he didn't really get a chance to know Shuurai as he should've, she was still apart of the family.

_His_ family.

* * *

How much time has passed? Autumn leaves turning crisp and to tumble off its branches to descend to the ground. Soon the yellow, red, and orange leaves turned to brown, then to be covered with a light, white layer of snow.

Tseng carried himself down the building's halls, briskly walking down to his apartment room, wrapped up in a large, blue coat the Turk's wore during winter.

_Good_ he thought, _Winter will bring another year to this world, giving birth to more lives that we need._

Unlocking his door, he carefully placed his coat on the coat hook, not caring that the water from the melting softness would drip onto his rather expensive carpet. All he wanted to do was sleep, just hibernate the winter away so maybe he'd get a decent night's rest before going back to Shin-Ra.

He didn't mind the building; it's just the money he wastes on getting pills for headaches from the pushy professor and an energetic Turk that works under his wing.

The redhead would be about the death of him, probably could reborn him if he were able to get something done right for once, which was highly doubted. Having Reno there wasn't exactly a luxury cruise, but at least he's been able to get things done so he can't really complain at all.

Specimen 742a has been released from its tank, currently getting checked up on by Hojo.

Tseng was no longer allowed to call her by her true name, but Nanashi.

What right did Hojo have to change her name to Nanashi, No Name? His mother's been using Shuurai ever since she's been sent to live with them while her mother was... _away_. For 4 years they've been looking after her, wondering when her mother was to return for her. After awhile, Shuurai disappeared and Tseng went to work for the Turks.

It's been 2 years since Shuurai has been experimented with in that tank. The 15-year-old was getting more developed and it was getting rather difficult to stare at a nude relative.

Now the question that's been bothering him lately was, would she remember him? If she did, how would she react once she found out why he done nothing to stop them from putting her through pain for 11-years? The training she had to endure through that time, leveling her magic and putting her on dangerous missions, only to return to the tank.

Sighing out his frustration, he opened up the cabinet next to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Pain Pills for his growing migraine.

Deciding it was best for him to sleep, he downed a glass of water, changed into the appropriate attire, and threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes to bittersweet dreams.

* * *

Once again, Rufus never ceased to stop his visits throughout the years, checking up on the prized experiment. And throughout that time, Hojo couldn't have been more annoyed than he did with the reports being demanded by Tseng.

Having the fact that he had to give up one of his most prized experiments, next to the past general, to Shin-Ra, in mind, he's been rather moody lately.

All day he would scan through Nanashi, checking for any errors in his last injection of Jenova cells fused with poison. It was rather hard to keep the Jenova cells from immunizing the poison once it's been touched, but careful analysis and calculations, he proved successful.

The reason he injected her with the fusion was to immune her from most poison and fire attacks. Of course, he tested it on Specimen 762b first, then made it better after the specimen deformed more than it already was.

Now that Specimen 762a was out of its tank, 762b would be disposed of since he had no further use for it.

Hojo adjusted the hose in his hand, using it to rinse the chemicals and water from the tank off of the nude Specimen. The greenish, thick like substance spiraled down the drains, leaving her skin pale with a hint of peach.

Hojo threw a towel at her before shuffling through his shelves to toss her an outfit.

The outfit was that of SOLDIER's, seeing as he doesn't have anything customized for her. He figured it should be the president's responsibility to clothe her, while he feeds and examines her through tests. After all, he wouldn't want his newly built SOLDIER to get out of shape and underestimated in any mission. Only _he_ knows her limits and potential.

Adjusting his glasses, he gathered the papers in a folder to title as his report to President Shin-Ra and motioned for Nanashi to follow.

"How pathetic it is, that I'll be handing a well made creation to someone who could care less. Typical of the stupid president to get anything he wants, selfish, all of them!" Hojo threw his hands up in frustration. "But this one won't stay with him long, she'll want to be free, to explore. Just the way I designed her, so I can retrieve her later and see how she's progressed."

Nanashi just continued to stand there, not really knowing what was really going on while Hojo was hustling about, walking faster ahead.

Nanashi could do nothing else but follow him, trailing as fast as she could behind him. She wasn't the tallest person in the world, standing at 4'10", not very tall indeed.

Both passed other scientists, dismissing their expressions of shock and other things they've waved by as they walked swiftly. Hojo managed to catch the glimpse of Tseng along with the other Turks at the end of the hall, all standing in their positions, either straight like Tseng and Rude, or slanted like Reno.

Hojo couldn't help but smirk, trying to knock down that emotion barrier on Tseng's face, wishing he'd react to seeing Nanashi-- formally known as Shuurai, walk by without one hint of recognition on her face.

* * *

_That smile, that promised._

_I took the long way to the room where you waited,_

_Held in a bonecrushing embrace by the grim reaper._

_No where to go for my spirit running on empty._

_This feeling, gaining speed,_

_Lead me, my wish._

_Fly away my wish,_

_To the other side of the sun._

_Believe me, it's just a little further,_

_And I'll be back by your side..._

* * *

"I'm sure you could take care of things here, I hope" Hojo grabbed Nanashi's shoulder none too gently and shoved her into Tseng's grasp. "Just remember that she's due to have check-ups every now and then, whenever I call to see as important. Now get out of my sight, I'm tired of seeing her in the grips of someone other than resting on my surgical table" Hojo sneered, clasping his hands behind his back while walking away in his slouch like fashion.

Nanashi sighed out a breath of relief, in all of her 9 years of being in Hojo's grip; she can finally live a normal life-- well, an almost normal life.

As soon as Hojo's back left her view, she turned towards the 3 men, blinking at them in expectation. Tseng nearly rose his eyebrow in question before realizing that they've been standing there for well over a minute now.

Turning around, he led the group towards the elevator where it brought them up to the final level of the Shin-Ra building, up to where the president and his son reside.

The soft elevator music caused everyone to shift in annoyance. They've been hearing it every time for the past 5-10 years that they have entered and went up and down, having to hear the same ring play over and over. Of course, Tseng's been able to build up a high tolerance for it and basically blocks it out.

Reno sighed, tapping his fingers against his metal rod that hung on his shoulder. His shirt was ruffled and not ironed, some of his buttons weren't done, and his hand he stuck into his wrinkled pants pockets.

Rude and Tseng were dressed accordingly, not that she knew their names, and she viewed them as Red, Shades, and Boss. Since Reno's red extravagant hair seems to be what he mainly cares for in his appearance. Rude, well, it wouldn't be polite to refer as a bald man, although it is true. And Tseng as Boss, since he seemed to have the power over some things.

Adjusting her pants, they were fairly big on her. Of course, she didn't mind the fact that she has more room and comfort in her pants, but it was required for the pants to be designed that way.

Her shirt was rather tight, yet spandex like with cotton that hugged her figure. It was a navy like color that had no sleeves. Her boots made a 'thunk' sound each time she took a step or beat her feet against the floor to an imaginary beat.

"Would you mind telling me your names so I wouldn't have to refer you to as Red, Shades, and Boss" Nanashi broke the silence.

Reno glanced over, turning his head ever so slightly, "The name's Reno, yo."

Rude adjusted his glasses, then introduced himself.

And finally, the boss man who stood in place, not glancing at anyone but what's ahead of him. He had long hair and his eye shape is Wutaiese. Same as... hers.

Shaking an occurring thought off, she glanced at the Wutaiese man every now and then, wondering where she has seen him before. When she was let out of the tank, Hojo explained that she wouldn't be able to remember anything from 4 years old.

Reno whistled to himself to a beat from one of the new bands, and by the way he drummed his hands against his leg, it must've been a rock band, hard rock, metal, she didn't know.

The elevator stopped, opening its doors. And as soon as it did, Tseng walked out rather briskly, leaving the 3 of them to catch up to his quick pace. Nanashi wondered if Reno and Rude was used to this. Rude didn't seem like he was complaining, then again, he doesn't seem to talk... at all. Reno's mouth was set in a very small frown, his eyebrows raising in slight annoyance at how his boss walked everyday, leaving him to abandon his casual walk into one of a business man.

Already she could tell that being out of the tank has its set backs, being is that she might have to work with the Turks.

Tseng's formal walk let his shoes ring off the walls with a sound that almost made her respect him. How can the way someone walk demand to the people around to praise him the respect he deserved for just mainly walking?

The short walk, which seemed shorter for some reason, ended in front of sliding doors, very much like the ones where you walk up close and the motion sensors open the door for you. Except this one seemed to require something other than a key. Nanashi watched as Tseng punched in some keys to the number pad, muttering in the speaker before the door slid open.

If she thought the halls looked grand, they were nothing compared to the expense in this room.

Nanashi stood there, not noticing that Reno was trying to catch her attention to lead her forward to the front of the president's desk.

Reno sighed, rolling his eyes before nudging her at the back of the knee, causing her legs to nearly collapse.

The sudden feel of descending jumped her into action by launching her leg forward to catch herself, though the action itself was enough to amuse one person in the room.

Reno's chuckle brought her to reality to see all that watched her make a fool out of herself.

There, barely even 14 feet in front of her stood a luxurious looking wooden desk, gold edges adorned the desk top, the wood looked rather expensive as well, probably more than her new 10 000 gil sword. Shaking the thought off, she frowned very slightly at the man who sat at the desk.

"Vice-President Rufus?" Tseng tried not to look surprise when indeed he was.

Tseng left the room for 20 minutes, only to return to the vice-president sitting in the president's desk like he owned it could be quite a shock to anybody when you're trying to send something very important to the president himself.

"My father had some other issues to clear up so I brought myself to check out the specimen **for** him" Rufus said, legs crossed in a formal fashion.

Tseng covered his mouth, coughing into it slightly before motioning Reno to bring Nanashi forward who obliged with a confused Nanashi at tow. Reno, as soon as Nanashi reached her destination, stood back beside Rude who regarded him with a single glance.

He knew that the vice-president was almost intimidating, yet he had the bratty side to him all wealthy children grew up with. Although Rufus was cold to almost everybody, he was no exception to the fact.

Rufus, who was leaning back with his elbow propped on his chair, sat up and leaned forward to take a closer look at Nanashi.

Examining her, he found the color of her hair and eyes were intriguing by the odd yet pretty shades, ones he didn't see on any Continental or Wutaiese man or woman. Already he could see a misjudged future ahead of her where everyone might put her on the spot or shut her down because of her looks and age, and being a girl.

Aside from the clothes, she was very pretty for a 15-year-old.

Rufus frowned at the SOLDIER uniform placed on her, although it was her position, he didn't like the air of authority it gave off around her. He felt as if the uniform on her was giving her a higher spot than a SOLDIER, but a general. And since Nanashi was supposed to be in his care, he had to do something about it, give her a better reputation and an early stage at collecting respect for herself.

With a snap of his fingers, two maids came in the room and stood by his side to await their orders.

Smirking lightly, he commanded.

"Get Nanashi's measurements and create a new apparel for her, have it ready within the following few days." he smiled slightly at Nanashi.

* * *

_I awoke, won't trust no one again.  
__I awoke, lead me to your side._

_This feeling, gaining speed,  
__Lead me, my wish.  
__Fly away my wish,  
__To the other side of the sun._

_The voice that pierced my heart  
__Now echoes within,  
__  
__My wish, fly away to my beloved.  
__Believe me, it's just a little further  
__And I'll be back by your side... Hello_

_Hello - Hyde._


	2. Go Forward

**A/N:** All chapters will be going under some editing. The next 4 will be reedited and uploaded soon.

* * *

_I was frantically looking for something.  
__It's okay to stumble, so go forward.  
__I know it's foolish, I just run on without regret.  
__The only one I can trust is myself, I didn't need friends.  
__The fangs I bared at anything and everything,  
__sexual stuff in adolescence is delicate and fleeting.  
__I wanna be strong, give me the strength to live on my own,  
__honestly, I was just scared of betrayal._

_-Ruki Gazette_

* * *

Phones were buzzing all around, doubling Nanashi's headache, if not, triple. The women had a vice like grip, nearly pinched her arms, and forced her to turn every which way. To be honest, she wasn't sure what they were doing anymore. At first, they were measuring her for clothing, now they're basically checking her out. One woman was staring at her chest for less than a minute before fishing through this rack of _bra's_ as what they called it.

To her, they looked very uncomfortable, so she protested. Just now, they threw a sports bra at her, forcing her shirt off, showing her developing breasts before they hooked her chest in the bra.

Now another woman forced her into a shirt, then came the white trench coat that had a red cross on the back. There was a belt accessory on her arm and one at the back to pinch the coat to a tighter fit so it wouldn't billow every so often. The woman threw a pair of black leather pants at her, before walking away to grab some boots.

Jumping around, Nanashi stuck one leg in her pants just as the woman started to put her boot on.

Though it was all a little dazing at first, Nanashi found it all annoying on how quick they were trying to make her multi-task. Finally, she was done much to her relief. But before she was able to relax on the chair, it was taken away just as the designers exited the room.

"Things... have gotten a little weird," Nanashi said, just about to scratch the back of her head but was prevented.

"Ah, such beautiful hair. I can't wait to get my hands on it and style it, such beauty should be shouted out and I have just the products" A gayish voice said behind her, nudging her down onto another seat.

Scissors were snipping, cutting off strands for her new haircut, forcing Nanashi to watch as her hair fell to the floor with broken pride. Once he was finished, he spun her around the chair 3 times, very quickly, before showing her the image of her new hairstyle. (Kyo: The one in the banner nn)

Nanashi was spared a few seconds of marveling at her image before she was booted out the door, next to a pair of boots.

"And, 5 minutes is the new record" Reno crouched down, patting Nanashi atop the head.

The door opened and the gay hair artist carried a bunch of bottles in his arms, hair conditioners, gel, hairspray, hair wax, shampoo, and… hair dye?

He picked her up with out any trouble before leading down the hall, strutting.

Nanashi frowned, not wanting to show she was pouting in front of the Turks so she turned her head and glared at the plain walls. Almost everywhere she went seemed to have either gray flooring, some floors like this one had a rich red carpet, but the walls were _always_ white. What if it was winter? Wouldn't the sun just make everything seem like a white void?

"Ah, don't worry about it, yo! Where do you think I got my _gorgeous_ hair" Reno grinned.

Nanashi blinked before smiling very lightly. One thing's for sure; her stay with the Turks may just have gotten brighter with Reno around. Now if only she could get the other two to at least, _smile_.

Lead into a room, there were sinks and mirrors everywhere, how many would she need just to see her head?

Sitting her down, the gay man wrapped a plastic like covering around her before turning the chair around and let her headrest against the sink. Running the warm water, he soaked her hair before squeezing bottles of conditioner and shampoo in her hair. Quickly, he massaged it in her scalp and hair before rinsing it out.

Throughout the whole time, Nanashi's sensitive nose smelt all the different fragrances, all fruit. While resisting the urge to snap her teeth out to the air, the gay man was drying her hair.

"By the way dear, my name's Lawrence, such an ugly name for a beautiful man" Lawrence grieved, putting his hand to his forehead in a faint like manner.

Nanashi still didn't get the homosexuality part in men, but giggled at the dramatic man.

"Oh, my angel laughed! Now this will be a second dear, let's even these stray strands out" he took the scissors out along with a red sucker, handing it to Nanashi for being such a good sport.

Nanashi, whom never tried candy before, stuck it in her mouth.

Tseng's mouth opened to object, but closed it and awaited the outcome; inside he was biting his fist but resisted doing so.

"All done!" Lawrence sang, ripping the sheet off for a dramatic effect.

Nanashi's hair was shiny, clean, no more nasty tangles, smelt nice, and had the effect of sea waves when it swings by, which it did every time she turned her head.

Jumping off the chair, Nanashi tested the wave effect by swinging her upper body childishly, grinning while doing so. That was one side Tseng would never forget, how much Nanashi grinned and giggled as she did things children found amusement in, even at the age she is now. Though, he couldn't blame her, she missed a large chunk in her childhood.

Her first training, her first mission, her first kill, her first assassinations, her first blood shed. She should be learning how to ride a bike, put on make-up, play baseball or play soccer.

The thing's she did now were what grown men did and they were plagued with memories of all the blood. But Nanashi, she was able to keep hold of her innocence with what she had to deal with, being in the tank and forced to try out her improvements.

Nanashi, just like a wolf pup, she had fangs, oh she had fangs. Right now, she may be smiling and giggling, but her fangs are what's protecting her. Even though she literally does have fangs, which were small now, but they appear bigger. And as time will grow, those fangs will change her and lead her to an isolated life. He doesn't want that, he doubts her parents, though gone now with unknown whereabouts, may not want that either.

Tseng sighed, seating himself at his desk and started to fill out paper work that he had to hand in later to the president that concerned Nanashi. As much as he wanted her around more often, having to write paper work on where she is going to fit in the company was troublesome.

But what made it easy was that she was assigned to Turk work, something he had more knowledge in. For years, they needed more members after the AVALANCH incidents and bombings; raids against the company, having to send in the lower Turks and SOLDIERs to defend the president from attempted assassination.

Now that Nanashi was officially within his protection, he no longer had to worry about her... much.

A loud crash caused Tseng to press too hard with his pen, exploding the ink onto the paper and splotched out the important things. Muttering out small incoherent words, he grabbed some Kleenex from a box on his desk and set out to clean off the ink.

No good. He threw the tissue away and covered his face in frustration.

An exploding pen to him was bad luck, especially when it was one of his favourite, good quality pens that glided across the page and actually _looked_ nice and important, were hard to find.

The door was thrown open, then slammed shut with a panting Reno leaning against it.

Reno wiped the sweat from his forehead, "I didn't do it, I swear, yo! It was an accident, I knocked over Nanashi's sword and now it's stuck!" he managed to get out before sliding down the door and into a sitting position.

Tseng groaned inwardly, asking if he deserved worse or better. He had a hunch that Reno was running from a furious Rufus right about now and just had to barge in his office when his painkillers weren't in effect yet.

A polite rap at the door shook Reno from his position, shooting him up and carefully crab walked across the room and hid under Tseng's desk.

Tseng ignored the 25-year-old and allowed entrance of the visitor.

Rufus strolled in, his blue eyes cold, a controlled smile was on his face, masking the rage he was bottling up inside.

"You didn't happen to see Reno come in here, did you?" he forced out.

Tseng stood up from his desk, stepping on Reno's hand and was rewarded with a small, almost inaudible hiss. Feeling accomplished, he straightened up his suit before replying. "I'm sure he'd turn up sooner or later, sir."

"I trust that you're not lying to me, Tseng. Consequences would be fatal if that were to happen. Nanashi's not happy, which puts me in the position to make her happy. A happy Nanashi means a greater relationship with her, don't you agree?" Rufus nearly hissed out, glaring at the desk.

Tseng's insides clenched together, what was said really hurt him.

"If I were to lie, then I'd accept the punishment for my actions, sir" Tseng replied, cursing to himself on why he even bothered covering for Reno sometimes. Maybe it was because he didn't want to have an injured man lying in bed when there's a mission, giving him an excuse to slack off.

Rufus proceeded out the door, but kept his eyes on Tseng before switching it towards the desk and left the room.

Tseng breathed a sigh of relief, having to lie to his boss really stressed him out, causing his headache to quadruple-- if possible. Reno really owed him one and he had just the request.

"Reno, go make amends with Nanashi. We don't want to be on her bad side," he ordered, shuffling his papers before putting them in a briefcase.

Reno crawled out from under the desk, then hopped up onto his feet and flattened his suit. "I have plans, yo. I have a gorgeous date tonight and I don't want any of my blood ruining my 'do" he winked, running a hand through his flaming red hair.

If only he was able to get a quarter every time Tseng sighed, he'd be in the same ranks as the president.

Staying in the office further with Reno would cause him to break down, so rushing in putting things in his briefcase; he briskly opened the door, turned around and literally kicked Reno out. Locking it up, he then started down the hall, ignoring Reno's cries of surprise and pleas for help on getting back up.

_When will he ever mature?_ seemed to have crossed everyone's mind of those who knew the red haired turk long enough.

His expensive shoes clicked as he walked to the elevator, the floors below the one he was on, were metal and cold, giving the room an almost lifeless look. Compared to the lower floors, he'd rather spend the whole day in his office that had the homey touch he added to it, so he was comfortable with working almost all the time. He even added double locks and black shades for when he has a migraine and didn't want to be disturbed.

Pushing the down button, he folded his hands behind his back and looked out the glass window and out ay\t the polluted city. There were no trees anywhere so nothing really caught his attention. Lights were on all around; the slums had thick clouds of smoke above, seeing as the metal plate prevented the smoke from escaping.

Hopping into his car, he proceeded in driving to his apartment, which was placed above the plate since he _is_ a turk after all.

* * *

Nanashi kicked her legs; she wasn't really that tall, her feet were suspended about an inch above the floor from the bed she was sitting on. Her room was annoyingly white, since she did live with Rufus and the man loves his white.

Her bed was semi-comfortable, though the springs were a bit warped and when she drops onto the side, she gets bounced into the middle of the bed. Fun at first, but when she forgets about it, it starts to get irritating and called Rufus to get her a new bed. Again, he complied with her demand and almost instantly ordered in a new, better mattress.

Lying down, she stared up at the blank ceiling in thought. Ever since she's been here, Rufus was still trying to get her living arrangements down, spoiling her like crazy.

When she asked for something to eat, she was given a buffet. When she asked for a Kleenex, servants lined around her, whipping one out of their pockets. It was all very flattering at first with all the attention she's been given, but now she feels like a spoiled brat.

Sighing, she rolled onto her side, propped up on elbows and turned on the television with a remote. What she needed now was comedy, but every channel she switched to, it was all on the news.

Groaning, she sat up with an irritated sigh and listened to what the reports just had to say after taking over all the other channels just for one broadcast.

A nerdish looking gentleman on TV explained an occurring bombing happening in the 3rd sector, 2 sectors away from her current position. People were screaming in the image being shown, reporter shouting out the name "AVALANCH" over the screaming, evacuating people.

Sitting indian style, she paid close attention, eyes shifting every second to view every detail, persons, and the background.

Just when she was getting into it, someone opened her door, causing her to shoot her eyes over to them.

Reno stood there, hands shuffling in his pockets as if he were searching for something.

"Where the hell is it? I'm sure I left it in this pocket" he dug further, far enough to discover the hole in his pocket and poked his fingers in it. Clenching his eyes shut, his teeth were bared slightly at his idiocy. "Damn it! Now I'm going to have to search for it!" he left.

Nanashi blinked, that was interesting. Not only did he waste her time, he also proved how big of a slob slash idiot he is, roaming about at work without keeping his clothes organized.

Shutting off the television, she decided that food might be a great thing at the moment.

Putting on her boots, she walked down the cold hallways, wishing she put on more than just a white, boy's tank top and oversized sweats that trailed behind her feet. Maybe she could get Rufus to add some red, blue, green or black to her outfit, instead of just plain white, she'd twin Rufus if she had to wear white all the time.

Padding across the metal floors, she searched in every room out of curiosity, yet stayed away from the ones that had growling or abnormal sounds.

Sighing, she slid down the wall and curled up her legs against her chest and hugged them for warmth. She gave up, she was getting cold. She didn't know why she was sensitive to almost every temperature but normal room temperature.

Feet were clicking against the metal floor, getting closer and closer, yet Nanashi chose not to look.

"Upsey daisy!" Reno lifted a surprised Nanashi like a sack of potatoes.

Her eyes flew wide open, staring up at Reno like a very confused... sack of potatoes, apparently.

Reno stood there, grinning down at her with white, sparkling teeth. He winked before setting her down gently on her feet and tossing a coat on her.

"Boss was getting worried, told me to tag you with a jacket before you freeze to death in the hallways, saying something about not fully adapted to the heat and cold yet" Reno said, rubbing his arms slightly.

Staring at the large jacket, she put it on. It went down to the bottom of her knees, giving her a look as if a child trying on their parents clothing. Once she was finished looking at the length of the jacket, she looked up at him with blinking, questioning eyes.

Reno scratched the back of his head; "It's his jacket, yo."

Nanashi's mouth formed an "oh", then went back to staring at the jacket in wonder. Tseng didn't seem to be the type to give up his possessions to others, even when they're in need. But there was always an answer to everything when it involves her.

"Now off we go!" he sang, again lifting her up like a sack of potatoes before proceeding down the hall with a grin on his face.

Just how much contact and attention would she receive when she's around the red head?

* * *

Reno gave out a sigh of relaxation, slumping down in his office chair with a cup of coffee in his hand. His eyes were half-lidded in pure ecstasy at the thrill of the caffeine his bitter drink gave off. Perhaps having a girl around would make his day even better, maybe enough to actually be _working._

Of course, that thought would have to take a train to somewhere else since there's a child in his presence.

"So, what do yea' want to do, kid?" Reno asked, holding his cup lazily.

Nanashi blinked, all she's been doing in the building was stay in her very white room and sitting on her bed, watching a very large television that had odd shows on.

"Well, when can I do missions?" Nanashi asked, slurping at her chocolate milk.

Reno suddenly burst out in laughter, trying desperately not to choke on his coffee, which I might add, was still hot. Coughing back the laughter and liquid, he calmed down in time.

"You're just like the general, yo. The resemblance was freaky at first, but then I learned at what a real sweet heart you are" he grinned, winking before brushing strays of hair away and tucked them behind her ear.

She learned after watching many shows about relationships on TV, though it was the only thing that's on all the time, was that men did that to show their affection.

"Now that we have everything that sugared us up, how about a tour around the city, yo." Reno said, seeming to be more of a statement than a question, seeing as he already grabbed his keys and her hand before taking the exit out of the Shin-Ra building.

* * *

"Damn! This is the worst day of my life!" Reno sulked, downing a bottle of beer.

Nanashi rolled her eyes, kicking her legs childishly as she sat upon one of the bar's tall stools, bored as hell while Reno continued his rants. For once, during her stay at Shin-Ra, her outside clothing had more color, so she would blend in with everyone else. She had black leather boots with zippers and belts. She still wore her white jacket though, so it was blowing along with the fans that currents cold air in the room.

"First, my girl dumped me. Now I broke my deal with Rude on never drinking again" he hiccuped, gulping down the remains of his third bottle.

Nanashi stared down at her dark purple shirt, close to the ones the SOLDIER's wore. Her pants were the darkest blues you can get, close to black, even. On her hands were black cotton gloves, seeing as the air was starting to get a bit nippy when it rained, and Rufus didn't allow her to leave without something protecting them.

Reno continued on, slurring his words, running sentences on with different sentences, making no sense whatsoever.

"Would you like a hug?" Nanashi finally asked.

"... Yes" Reno said, yanking Nanashi into his arms and continued to bear hug her to destroy his misery.

After a minute or two, Reno seemed to have gotten a little too into the hug. His hands moved up and down her back, and seeing as Reno was quite a ways taller, he had to bend down to rest his head upon hers. Reno's breath came out into alcohol scented puffs, streaming into her sensitive nose and tickled past her ears.

Nanashi sighed, "I'm only 15."

That seemed to have snapped Reno out of it, for he pushed away from her and seemed to wipe what looked to be tears away from his eyes.

Note to herself: Reno gets emotional when drunk. In the sad, sad way that drops off the cocky appearance into nothing more than a soft teddy bear on the inside. One that likes chicks, booze, and wild sex. His red hair included.

* * *

Growling, how much Nanashi wanted to strangle Reno for leaving her in the mission field where she was training. He said he was going to pick her up _right_ on the dot, which happened to be over 1 hour and 15 minutes ago. With each passing second, the cells in her body that were trying to calm her down were being shoved aside by rage.

How many times has she told herself that she was giving up on the first person that tried to gain her friendship, always went crashing down into the ground. To her, there were no second chances, but respect and trust could always be regained, but separately.

Kicking her feet into the puddles, she sent waves of water across the already damp ground. It's been raining for an hour now, which looks like it won't be giving up anytime soon.

Now that she thought about it, Reno did this when he was supposed to pick her up from soccer practice, instead he was out, screwing some woman to end his misery. Man is he going to get it when he goes to work in the morning.

Nanashi groaned, figuring she'd have to get back home, all on her own. Not to mention that it was still pouring rain.

The heavens above were dark gray, making the light around the place dimmer than usual. Every time it rained, she wasn't exactly up to mood for anything. She'd growl or snap at anything, using her invisible fangs again. But never did she actually _use_ them to harm somebody... yet.

Opening the door to her white room, she stared down at the white floor with water dripping in puddles below. Ever since she came to be there, she's had everyone else do things for her, even though she never really asked for them. But now that she's alone, she has the time to think about how she'd rather be her own strength.

Staring into her mirror for a second, the abnormal pupils flickered about, studying the shape of them as slits.

Sighing, she stripped down to nothing, then changed into a new set of clothes. Except this time, a faded black, oversized shirt, and rather baggy white shorts as well before snuggling into her blanket, watching the water slide off her windows.

She wondered if that was how the general felt, since he did seem to be rather cold to everybody himself. Was he scared of betrayal as well? Or had he been betrayed already?

Maybe she didn't have to feel alone, after all.

Grabbing her blanket, she decided to watch the lightning up close and sat in front of her window, covered from head to toe in her cottoness and shaped herself as a cocoon. Lightning attacked the sky; thunder rumbled and allowed her to feel the vibrations through the window with a palm on the glass.

As long as I'm able to stand on my two feet, I'll be the tallest to the world.

* * *

_I knew that nothing would change if I kept running away  
__but I couldn't change myself.  
__The loneliness I prided myself on  
__was a pair of wings to escape to my worthless dreams.  
__The self assertion I prided myself on called 'RIOT',  
__there was no freedom, nothing beyond this light.  
__Teenage Bluely Days,  
__I was drowning in each rough day.  
__Before I knew it I was shouldering such loneliness.  
__It was hard. To be honest,  
__I really didn't want to be on my own._

* * *

The door opened, the lightning reflected off of who it was into the window, allowing her to see the image of Tseng. In his hand was a wet jacket that also dripped water on the floor beside her wet clothes.

His hair was wet; there were big wet spots on his shoulder that went half way down his chest. His pants were dry, but soaked near the hems of the legs that smeared water and dirt every time he took a step. To say at the least, he looked a mess.

"Reno's an idiot, now go to bed. I'm sure you'll be able to get some amusement on his punishment when light starts to show, now sleep" he ordered, softly as he can which was a new change for him.

Nanashi blinked, why was he soaked? And why did she have to go to sleep when it's only 11:30.

Then she remembered she was no longer under the plates in the slums so it didn't appear dark all the time. And that she really _did_ have to go to bed as so ordered.

Even if she couldn't remember the family she had before, a teenaged boy with shoulder length hair, along with his Wutaiese mother. They lived in a house that had 4 cats and very few rooms. Even though it wasn't much, she was able to call it home until she was taken away.

Just as she was able to smile, the darkening sky broke through the disappearing clouds.

* * *

_Since always pretending to be strong makes one forget one's  
__true face.  
__It's important to occasionally loosen up and rely on others.  
__Hurt... When you want to cry, face the great big sky  
__and scream out in a loud voice.  
__That you want to forget yourself, so you can keep being who you  
__are.  
__The encouraging voices of my father, my mother, and my friends  
__spurred on, even one so weak as myself, they gave me light.  
__The loneliness and pain of my youth that I prided myself on  
__were a pair of wings to escape to my worthless dreams.  
__If there's a freedom to be had in that clear blue sky  
__I wouldn't care if these wings I'm so proud of were torn off.  
__I began running, frantically aiming for the sky  
__I spread my wings and flew away, and the spot where I fell  
__was 'freedom'.  
__With a wonderful family, and wonderful friends  
__these were the best days of my life, if I'm reborn  
__let's meet again..._

_Miseinen_, by Gazette

* * *

**A/N:** Whoo, I tried to make the lyrics fit the chapter near the end, so I had to put the rest of the story in the results :/. But other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed it nn. I'll start the next chapter when I find some more pretty lyrics from inspiring Jrock singers 3. I have a few in mind, I just have to translate them.

The pretty banner was made by my little sister, Ziara (FallenSerafin) 3. She also made me another picture for the hell of it, I'll probably just change the hair color and then we have a picture of Nanashi .


	3. One Sad Remembrance

**A/N:** Whoo Halloween. I've had this chapter written for awhile, I was just trying to find the time to post it up. I'm waiting for one of my friends to call, it doesn't seem like they will u-u;. I wish they will, sooner or later or I'll be very angry with them for not coming with me to trick-or-treat.

_

* * *

_

_The object of my desire_

_Is in the far off distant mirage. _

_My heart cracked, aches in longing._

_If you'll hold me like a cradle,_

_I won't need anything else. _

_Before I knew it, my shredded feeling_

_was screaming on the endless sands. _

_Eyes looking up, aimed at the sky, _

_let loose with brilliant arrows until they ran out. _

_-Hyde_

"Hold still Nanashi, how are you going to ride it when you can't get on?" Reno asked, trying to lift her up off the ground and onto the waiting patiently chocobo.

"You know, maybe some of us want to try this ourselves" Nanashi snapped, refusing Reno's help and struggled to get on herself.

Reno sighed, sitting down indian style. He watched how pathetically Nanashi tried to get on the giant yellow bird. His elbow was propped up on his knee with his chin resting against his palm.

"Squaw!" An adorable sound rang through the air.

Reno tensed, then looked around before spotting an adorable chocobo.

The baby bird looked up in fascination, in which Reno returned it. Rude in the background was paying for the older Chocobo.

"HAHA! I knew you were a big teddy bear on the inside!" Nanashi grinned.

Reno rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but make coo'ing sounds while ruffling up the baby chocobo's feathers on top of its head.

"Shut up and get back on the bird, yo. Or should I say, try to" Reno smirked.

Nanashi paused in her movements, before glaring at the red headed Turk. Now that she remembered what happened two days before, she was still sore around Reno and was often found glaring at him every chance she got. The grin slipped, she'll just tell herself that it was because of how cute the baby chocobo was.

Reno sighed before rolling his eyes. Standing up, he leant down and kissed Nanashi softly on her forehead.

Nanashi tensed, twitching her eyes, never before did someone do _that_. That was her first kiss! Well, her first forehead-kiss.

"Can you please, please forgive me? I never meant to hurt, hurt, hurt you!" Reno pouted out his lower lip, having to master it over the years. Reno truly was a ten-year old at heart, even though he's 14 years older than passed age.

Nanashi stopped trying to desperately escape Reno by jumping onto the chocobo and watched him pout.

The punishment earlier in the morning was good enough, wasn't it?

After all, Tseng practically forced Reno to finish paper work as well as his. Ordered to by Rufus, but Tseng would've done so anyway. But what came next in that conversation made Nanashi doubt Reno would success.

Nanashi was sent to live with Reno so he'd learn responsibility, by caring for her and doing it well.

Nanashi coughed before turning her head with a groan. Reno's face was always so pathetic, but right now it was even more pathetic the way he scrunched his face up into a pout. But of course, it did look rather adorable. Red heads. How come they always have this weird effect on her?

"...Shit" she said, rubbing her eyes before giving him that warning look.

"Hey, no swearing, yo" Reno said sternly, though the serious look wasn't so strong.

All was broken with a grin.

"Now let's go home. I have some things to do after you settle in. I'd like to think of it as-" he paused, sliding his hand over his red threads, "- a reward." he finished coolly.

Nanashi looked at him like he's gone 'gonk'. Even though she's only 13-years-old, the thing Reno tried to cover up stood out like a golden chocobo. Though, she didn't really believe in colored chocobos, more so something as a fairytale being told to children.

Speaking of chocobos, the mother chocobo didn't seem to fond that its chick was talking to a stranger, possible predator with the way Reno's hair is colored.

If possible, a glint shone in its eyes, almost evilly. That was never a good sign, especially when it came to the friendly giant.

Suddenly, like in slow motion, the bird squawked and jumped on Reno. Reno fell down to the floor with wide eyes at the sudden mass of weight placed on his back. The mother chocobo started to yank at his hair, causing him to flail about and trying to save his precious red madness.

"Nanashi, N-Nanashi! Get this stupid, ow, thing OFF OF ME!" Reno yelled.

Rude, who of course heard the shouts of pain, turned to look at the giant attacking Reno with his jaw dropped;yet still looked professional.

Nanashi watched on, deciding whether or not to help him. After all, she had a feeling Reno would continue to NOT pick her up from training, so maybe he should deserve something first handed.

* * *

Reno sat upon the medical bed, more so laying down while one of Shin-Ra's private doctors worked on sewing stiches into his shoulder.

The red head's face was over the ledge, sulking at the loss of his hair. He didn't want to go bald and the bird just didn't want to let go. So the only choice Rude had was to cut the precious Ruby locks and all watched as the strands fell on the floor, which in time reaction caused Reno to start going ballistic.

Rufus was not happy with the amount of money he owed the Chocobo Ranch to pay for the damages.

But in the end, everyone was happy. The mother bird caught it's worm and the cow finally jumped over the moon. In story wise, that is. Oh yes, the mother bird did catch the worms. Red, silky worms.

"Nanashi, stop story telling like an old granny and get your ass over here!" Reno ordered, still very peeved that she didn't help him.

"Where's the yo?" she asked, grinning all the while.

Reno glared, but stopped at the warning look Rufus was giving him and settled on mumbling incoherent things to himself.

Rude cleared his throat before adjusting the collar of his shirt. He tried to signal to them that they were on a busy schedule at the moment, but didn't want to speak loud of it. Of course, no matter how much Reno seemed to rant, he always managed to catch the signal the first time.

Stopping his grumbling, he hopped off the table while the doctor sighed in exaggeration. Apparently this was a common thing.

Nanashi raised an eyebrow but didn't question. Stupid questions would be answered with stupid answers. That's if it were Reno. If it was someone else, they wouldn't want to go back on memory lane while Reno will boast about his past _battle_ scars. Nanashi guessed some of them were from twirling his... batons. Or his electric rod as so he would correct with.

"How fast can you can count to 10?" Reno asked, shouldering his rod on the opposite shoulder from the one he usually used, but seeing as his shoulder was hurt, it felt foreign.

"Wha--?" Nanashi was cut off as Reno threw her over his good shoulder like a bag of potatoes, before running off.

"Ouch, the stupid baton is digging into my stomach!" Nanashi managed to get out.

"Good, that means you're holding onto it really tight there, yo" Reno answered back, grinning.

* * *

Tseng was walking down the halls, books, papers, pens in one hand while a nice full mug of hot coffee in the other. Nothing better than a good cup of caffeine would do the trick to keeping him fully awake. Of course, there were other resources that would keep him up as well.

"Stop joking around Reno, I'm deducting your pay!" he yelled, trying desperately to wipe the burning liquid off his legs, which also burned his hands.

Reno groaned in displeasure but continued on with his run.

Tseng's mouth was closed yet his teeth clenched. The vein in his head was ready to protrude through his forehead at the stress and sudden pain he went through with the liquid nearing his lower regions.

Tseng was about the drink the rest of his coffee but had to stop short for Rude was jogging past by.

"Sorry boss." Rude managed to grunt out.

Tseng glared, wondering how he was supposed to put up with the two every time he went to work daily. Of course, it was bringing in money, which he needed for to look after Nanashi while Reno's out getting his daily dose of sex.

Locking the door behind him as he stepped into his office, he did not want to be bothered. Not to mention that there was still a huge spot very near his crotch that was started to feel really uncomfortable seeing as it was starting to get colder.

Tossing off his jacket, he took off his belt, then shoes and let his pants fall, leaving him half-naked.

Opening the cabinet behind him, he pulled out another pair of pants he could replace with his dirty one. It's a good thing that a Turk comes to work prepared; or else he'd be walking around like… well, Reno.

Suddenly, thunder struck in the distance. And he had to walk out of the building and towards his car to head on home. One of the perks on not being under the metal plate like the people in the slums, is that they never really get any rain. Yet the place where Aeris lived, seemed to get enough water and sunlight for the little yellow flowers to grow.

Sighing, he grabbed a black umbrella from out of the cabinet before putting all his needed things in a briefcase and left the halls of the building and out into the rain.

Rain. It all always reflects him back to the older days. The time he looked after Nanashi when she was a young child, to when she was taken away to a company he worked for in the present. Then after a few years she was taken away, he met Aeris in one of his missions he was assigned to.

Nanashi's mother, Ai Rae. Although she looked lovely, that didn't make up for her selfish personality. She used up the money she needed for her and Nanashi's food for cigarettes and alcohol. And the clothing she wore at night showed a lot of skin; her kimono was rather small. Making her something of a prostitute. She worked at the whorehouse, Blooming Lotus.

And Nanashi's father, well, he never knew him. Just that he was a full Wutaiese man without any pride or noble blood that all of them seemed to have to be able to keep their heads held high, though his went down to a lower level that was almost… discriminating to them, lower than prostitutes.

Getting off the topic in his head, he'd rather not go thinking about the man. How Ai managed to get pregnant, he would never know.

Speaking of Aeris, while looking after her, she always seemed to be like Nanashi. Both having no parents, leaving someone else to look after them. They had the confidence to do whatever they had in mind, whether it was dangerous or finding out the source of their curiosity, pressing him for information whenever they ask questions.

But the difference was in looks and smiles. Aeris smiled more, while Nanashi, more so known to him as Shuurai; seemed to have a difficulty time smiling. When she smiled, it was rare. When Aeris smiled, it was at almost everything.

Tseng got the Shin-Ra job to get his Shuurai back, but being a man of loyalty, they stuck him into the Turk position where he wasn't able to do as planned.

Sighing, he wished it were years re-winded where he could've saved Shuurai earlier, where she wasn't Nanashi. Shuurai would've remembered him; she would've been happy and actually smiled. Nanashi was a weapon, something he couldn't see as his Shuurai. Two names in one body, one sad remembrance.

**

* * *

**

Reno set his can of soda on the counter, leaning against it as he thought of what to make. Usually he ordered out, seeing as he didn't like to cook much. Not that he couldn't cook, he could, but it was pretty foreign to him after awhile.

"What do ya want, kid?" he asked, turning his attention towards her.

Nanashi was quietly sipping on the soda he handed her, the carbonated drink was rather strong on her sensitive taste buds, since the acid in them were tingling away at her tongue and everywhere it was able to fizz to.

"What ever you want. I'm in the mood for anything edible" Nanashi replied, taking another sip before setting it down.

Reno frowned, that's one of the things he hated about cooking. Choosing what he had to make, or wanted to make. But now since he had a guest, he was sort of hoping she'd put up more of a conversation or debate on what he or she wanted.

"Fine then, spaghetti it is!" he grinned, turning towards his messy stove.

Nanashi watched for 5 minutes, but then got up since she didn't want to watch Reno use a cloth to clean away at the disgusting food that has been left on the stove for who knows how long, making it harder for him to scrub at. As so he called it, 'manly power.'

"Go watch some T.V, sport. I'll be awhile here, yo" he said, pointing his finger towards the box in the corner of his living room.

Nanashi blinked and turned towards the corner where the T.V remained blank at the moment, dead.

Sighing, Reno walked forward, a kitchen towel hung over his shoulder while he turned the T.V on.

The box came to life and showed some news reports on petty theft and some mishaps going on above the metal plate. They never really concentrated on the slums since nothing unusual goes on around there, and thieving and breaking laws was normal.

Changing the channel, she crossed a show on chocobos and grinned at the fond memories before changing it once more.

Finally, she settled on a show. More so movie, which was at commercial at the moment, leaving her to wait for it to come on. Advertisements and other product commercials passed by, nothing that caught her attention aside from the one with the ring the size of a materia and some new candy product.

The movie came on, showing leather boots, the very bottom of the leather coat along with the point of what she assumed to be a long sword.

The screen traveled up the body, showing bit by bit of the male. Finally, just above the knees were silver strands being blown into the wind. Such a familiar color, familiar clothing, and familiar sword. It was almost as if the person was someone she heard of that matched that very description seeing as no other would dress in his clothes without being called a poser.

"Put on some music!" Reno demanded.

Nanashi frowned; the curiosity within her screamed at her to see who the man was but changed the channel anyway. Whoever it was, it was nothing of the general she's heard stories and rumors about. From his outstanding career to his death, which was described in TV documents or word on the streets.

Nanashi stopped at a music channel. It looked something of a metal band since the music had a lot of guitar solo's and screaming, something Reno seemed to like since he was head banging in the kitchen.

Sighing, the teenager in Reno came out at the oddest of times, leaving her to hope for the best of his sanity.

"Turn it up!"

"No."

"Just do it, yo!"

"No…"

"…"

Reno quieted at the vicious look Nanashi was giving him. Her eyes were sharp and piercing, sharp as Sephiroth's Masumune.

"Alright, alright, don't start throwing toothpicks at me with those eyes of yours." _knives_ he corrected himself, quiet wary of another resemblance that didn't put any distance between Nanashi and Sephiroth. Their resemblance was uncanny, no doubt about it.

Raising an eyebrow, Nanashi started to think there was no hope for Reno's brain cells.

"Dinners ready…" Reno said, turning back to the kitchen.

Standing up, Nanashi proceeded to the kitchen, tottering off with Reno looking at her from the counter as if she had some multi-personality disorder.

Shaking it off, Reno sat down with a cloth tucked into his collar; still dressed in his Turk suit since he was too lazy to change. Both dug into the spaghetti Reno miraculously was able to make without making a house fire.

Reno ate away at his plate, rocking his head slightly to the rock beat that was currently being played from his television.

Nanashi sighed once more; she seemed to be sighing a lot ever since she came to the apartment. She shouldn't have expected less from Reno; if his appearance was messy then there was no doubt that his apartment would be any better. Men, it appears that only Rude, Rufus, and Tseng seemed to be the only people who have matured at their age, possibly earlier.

"So what do you want to do now, Tiger?" Reno asked after he finished slurping up his last spaghetti noodle.

Nanashi appeared in thought, she would've asked for the grand tour but they were living in an apartment, which was pretty big actually. It was like a first floor of a house, which would be a rather big house with the way his apartment is.

"I want to…" she trailed off, not knowing exactly what she wanted to do.

Reno quirked his lip to the side, appearing to be in thought as well. "How about we just tour the apartment and chill out, yo?" he suggested.

Nanashi didn't appear in thought for long before nodding in agreement.

Reno grinned before standing up and throwing a dishcloth to the sink. "Let's just leave that for now, yo."

Nanashi had a feeling Reno decided on the tour cause he didn't want to do the dishes. _What a lazy guy_ she smiled.

* * *

"Now get your ass into bed, we have to work bright and early tomorrow, yo" Reno ordered, shutting off the light to Nanashi's room, which happened to be quite big. It was like she was sleeping in a living room.

"Okay" Nanashi replied with a dull tone.

Reno grinned, first time he had a roommate, even if it was a young girl. Maybe if she were older, he'd consider dating her. But even then, he wouldn't be able to get his paws on her because of Tseng and Rufus who'd probably castrate him for even thinking of bedding her.

Shivering, he couldn't imagine it. Hojo would be touching his thing and _removing_ it.

As Reno shut the door, Nanashi got out from under the covers to look up at the full moon. Gazing at the stars and the milky clouds splashed across the midnight sky, little neon colored dots sprinkling here and there. One thing about the moon is that it put her to peace. The inner her would be at peace, just to let her collect her thoughts on the past events.

Finally, she fell asleep, just by the window.

Just as she closed her eyes, an almost like vision came towards her. There was the Shin-Ra mansion, as so she was told and viewed of in photographs, stood looming under the full moon, lighting up the ground so it didn't appear so evil as they say it was.

And inside, there was this basement, a locked door she wasn't able to pass.

Letting her fingers graze across the wooden door, Reno and the other didn't mention anything about the locked room. Maybe it was just a secret storage room. Not putting any more thoughts to it, she walked away, abandoning that basement, abandoning the mansion, and abandoning Nibelheim.

* * *

Nanashi was on her hands and knees, panting with numerous bruises and scratches on her. Her tongue was bleeding, filling her mouth with a metalic taste, something she despised. The reason she tasted blood was because she bit her tongue on the last hit she received to the head. Standing in front of her was Tseng, panting slightly but not enough as her.

His hair was still straight as ever, not a strand misplaced. In his hand was a staff; that she had to learn to disarm without her use of weapons.

Tseng sighed, minimizing his staff to just a stick and threw it over to an amazed Reno, who was captured in wonder by the battle they just had. Relatives kicking the crap out of each other, his source of entertainment.

Walking in front of Nanashi, Tseng just stood there, staring down at her exhausted form.

Frowning, he didn't want to do any battle of the sort against her, having to whack her around with a stick and cause her small body to fly around. She couldn't even reach the sink without the use of a stool, so why did they choose someone like him to go against her when Rude or Reno was more in her range of strength.

Sighing, he knelt down and patted her on the head awkwardly. He read that children liked praise and thought that he might give it a try.

Nanashi breathed in deeply, before blowing it out as her last pant and looked up at the Wutaiese man. Of course, she knew he was only half, but he appeared more Wutaiese than the Continental side of the world. How he was able to live amongst them really got her to admire him.

Standing up, she stood in front of Tseng, no longer looking like a broken tool but someone who understood that they lost and accepted it.

The long silent between them was broken. "I'm hungry."

Tseng was amused, almost letting it show on his face with a very small smile.

"Well then, lets go squirt. Lets go to one of those restaurants in the Slums and let Tseng pay, 'cause I forgot my wallet, yo" Reno said, slinging Nanashi over his shoulder and walked towards his car with Rude.

Tseng sighed, at least the restaurant would be cheap and didn't make a big dent like the last time where Reno claimed they should have some sort of celebration for Nanashi joining the Turks.

Tseng looked up at the blue sky, before he went under the metal plate. He listened to the small argument between Nanashi and Reno while thinking.

Just how long was he supposed to remain just a friend?

How long did he have to keep the secret away from her?

Now it was as if the sky would be his savior and answer all of his questions. He already asked the sacred statues in Wutai. Praying didn't seem to do him much good. So all he has left to do now is hope for the better, let Nanashi figure it out herself.

"Hurry up pickle man, the food's not going to be able to pay for itself," Nanashi yelled. "Now run Reno, run and don't look back!"

Tseng continued on looking at the sky, letting a small smile flash on his face.

At least he now has a reason not to worry about her being depressed, she's got the redhead to amuse her now, not to mention he seems to be making her a lot more bolder to yell that little insult at him, one as childish as Reno's IQ.

"I'm going to kill you" Tseng muttered into the wind, thinking of punishing Reno with another task.

The amusement tingled into his voice like a calm, flowing stream.

Nanashi's happiness will be his brilliant arrows that would _never_ run out.

_If we had met in calmer days_

_I would have liked to awaken to, "It was all a dream"_

_How long have I been waiting for you? _

_There's nothing here now but pain. _

_The sunlight blinding me is shining_

_as if burning my icy heart_

_eyes looking up, aimed at the sky_

_let loose with brilliant arrows until they ran out._

**

* * *

**

"Man, this stuff hits the spot! Come here Nanashi, try some of this" Reno ordered in his drunk state.

In his hand were chicken wings and some fries and gravy. Odd combination, but Reno's drunk, meaning he won't be even able to say his alphabets without mixing up the position of the letters and skipping some.

Tseng watched on, his elbow on the table with chin to his palm.

Shaking his head, he couldn't help but river in chuckles. Reno had just shoved the food in a disgruntled Nanashi's mouth, gravy dribbling down her chin and staining to her white shirt.

Looks like Reno's punishment might have worsened, adding a little something from Rufus.

_struck by…_

_I grab onto tomorrow as if dragging it_

_bringing with me_

_the barbed wire which wraps tighter around me_

_the more I struggle._

_Horizons rise here in my eyes_

_A sound of silence calls_

_But in my heart a distant hope_

_Is mine forever more_

_eyes looking up, aimed for the sky_

_let loose with brilliant arrows until they ran out._

_Horizon-Hyde_

* * *

**A/N:** So there it is, the third chapter :/. I should've been working on my dragonknight24 account but motivation comes low to the stories on there. I was working on the Wolf's Rain story for guys, but it's difficult to write something on some girl you don't really know or don't _want_ to like, like guys do. The story's for a friend, who I probably won't write anymore guy stories for.

Anywho, review and I'll be happy as a Kyoshi can be. D


	4. The Closed Doors

_I'm crossing the borderline,_

_Without a sound,_

_A wilderness,_

_No one could ever know._

_The sadness,_

_How it brings me down,_

_I know I have no choice._

_Is it wise? Taking a life?_

_-Hyde_

* * *

"How you doing, squirt?"

It's amazing how many nicknames he was able to come up with for Nanashi. She hasn't even been there for 2 weeks and they're already buddy-buddy.

"We be chillin'" she decided to use his talk.

Reno's microphone seemed to be shifting around, a common habit Reno seemed to have, especially with his new headset.

"Isn't that a whoot, now listen. If you ever get scared, I'm always a few halls, the main room, the exit, the pathway, and a road down if you ever need Uncle Reno around, K, yo?" Reno said, looking around with his binoculars. Except the thing was, he was looking at the wrong end so everything was distorted and not so far away.

"I'm not 5, damn it!" Nanashi said stiffly, yet her tone was venomous.

"You're not?! I mean, of course you're not. I knew that the whole time, yo" Reno replied, clearing his throat to cover up his _little_ mistake.

Nanashi rolled her eyes then popped her double-mint gum into her mouth. Reno gave it to her to take her mind off the spooks of the mansion, though one little piece wouldn't occupy her from noticing how dark and creepy the rooms were. Even the corners would freak her out.

"Reno, you better be making me 50 more servings of that spaghetti tonight" she grumbled into her headset.

"We're not having spaghetti tonight, pipsqueak. Something better, better than the noodles you can make anytime. We're having lasagna, how's that for ya, Scout?" he said with a cocky grin.

"Whatever, just make a lot, and I mean a **lot** when I'm done with this" Nanashi replied, kicking away a broken cup that seemed to be housing a family of spiders within it with an expression of disgust.

"Glad you're being a sport about this. Now hurry up while I sit back and finish the rest of these pretzels" Reno replied, crunching sounds were heard on the other end.

Nanashi snorted, then moved the headphones a bit so she wouldn't have to hear it.

Without the sounds of an animal, meaning Reno, everything was quiet and eerie. Eerier than usual. It was like the shadows were moving; there were rumors about something in the basement. But no one even dared to see if it were true, if she were them, she wouldn't want to either. But seeing as Shin-Ra is also getting involved with this sort of thing, they'd obviously send a Turk to check for some clues on who knows what. For all she knew, she'd be following a hoax.

Nanashi dug through her pockets, looking for those food rations Reno shoved in her pocket. They were meant for the people in SOLDIER, but since she complained about being hungry during almost every mission, Reno shoved them in her pocket.

Ripping open the wrapper, she didn't notice the monster that appeared behind her.

The shadow was rather big, but she still didn't notice, since her gloves couldn't get the grip she needed to tear at the seams.

"Damn it, you little son of a bitch" she swore, using her teeth to pull the glove off.

A faint rumbling was heard behind her.

Stopping her actions, she slowly started to look up, finding the courage to turn around, hoping it was just a trick Reno was playing with her.

Slowly she turned her head and her body, discovering a shadow that she didn't notice. How could she not have noticed? It was right there, covering _her_ small shadow. And she certainly didn't have any horns.

There, behind her, was the most ugliest creature, ever.

Dark purple fur, yellow eyes, black horns and claws. It had a wolfish like muzzle with fangs dripping saliva. In a finer description, it looks like a devil's pet.

"Uh---uh" Nanashi managed to get out. The demon growled.

" 'Ho shit" she dodged out of the way from a flying paw.

Grabbing her sword, she managed to cut it diagonally and a few horizontally before she had to duck out of the way. It almost appeared as if it was not effected since the cuts were shallow and were already. Starting. To. Heal.

Nanashi's face flashed with horror before holding her hand out to try different types of magic.

_Fire_.

The monster recoiled at the licking flames, singeing its hair and caused it to thrash.

_Fire 2_.

The thing crashed into a wall, before going through an open window and out into the night.

The breath she didn't know she was holding in let out as a relieved sigh, now that the creature was gone, she was able to check out the basement which she hoped wasn't as bad as the first floor.

Going through rooms, she found a piano with a few broken keys.

Sad, it was a rather lovely black gloss coated if it weren't for age and not being taken care of, it would've played a beautiful tune.

Dust flew up with every step she took into the halls, checking every room for any mentioned secret passage. She found those paper clues in one of the rooms near the exit. The paper, if stayed there any longer, undiscovered, would've fallen apart with time.

"Nanashi, squirt, what the hell was that?!" Reno yelled into the headset.

She cringed. "I don't know, but it hates fire. What the hell is Shin-Ra hiding in this freakin' mansion?!" she yelled into the microphone.

"That's something I don't know, you'd have to ask one of the scientists that were around. Wear your helmet now, there's no telling what might pop outta nowhere, yo" he demanded.

Rolling her eyes, she put on the military like helmet but didn't bother with the strap.

"Well, its gone for now and I'll carry out with the mission-- just a minute, I think I found something" she traced her hands across the stone wall.

The passage opened quickly, echoing the rough sound into the hallways.

"What was that?! Nanashi? Squirt?!" Reno yelled frantically.

"Hold on, Red. I found the passageway to the basement and I'm going down these creepy, dark, spider-filled stairs" Nanashi cringed with every step she took down the squeaky stairs.

Reno breathed out a sigh. "Jeeze-a-lu, I thought you fainted or something."

"Now why the hell would I go and do that? I'm not that weak" Nanashi rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, now hurry it up, yo." Reno cancelled out the line for awhile.

Nanashi sighed, already feeling quite lonesome without the noisy redhead's voice to fill up the blank space of nothing. It's amazing how fast the two became friends, seeing as they're the complete opposite.

Finally reaching the bottom, the walls didn't really look like walls at all. It was more of a tunnel that was leading to a room with a bright, neon green glow. As well as a door at the end, that looked frighteningly familiar.

"Ho-ly shit. I must be some kind of telepathic, or something" she traced the cracks in the door as she did in her dream.

Curling her hand into a fist, she knocked on the hollow door. The sound alone sent clumps of rock and dirt to fall upon her head that came down from the ceiling.

Nanashi staggered at the sudden impact, then coughed from the dust in the air, floating around her and causing her breathing to crack up. The air was already thick and musty to breath in, but the added dust sent her coughing or sneezing.

"My gosh, thank god for the helmet" she said, picking up her helmet that fell down at the sudden shower of dirt. Clicking the strap, she explored further, ignoring the door for later, even though her instincts were telling her to check more into it as her first priority.

"Reno always told me to follow my instincts, but that always sent me into sticky situations" she said to herself, taking a flashlight from out of her pocket.

Reno seemed to have packed her up for some sort of expedition when she was clearly sent to _just_ check out the mansion that was at the moment, filled with secrets and surprises. Such as the sudden pop ups of deformed monsters and a partially collapsing tunnel.

Flicking her flashlight on, she searched around the room that appeared to have been an office at some point.

Books were abandoned in various places, off their shelves, littered on the floors below them and on the desk with the source of the neon green glowing behind it.

Tanks were the ones giving off the unnatural glow; the water in there bubbled a few times, showing that the machine was still plugged in. Seems that the previous owner abandoned the place without concerned of the electricity bill. What she wondered was why the deserted mansion was still able to get electricity for near 30 years already without someone paying for it, certainly Shin-Ra wouldn't pay for something that's been inactive for that lengthy period.

Nanashi marveled at the books dated back centuries, all on the JENOVA project. Some had the titles on the Ancients, mako and the lifestream.

This scientist must've been a pure genius to be able to get all this information, seeing as almost every book was hand written. Venturing further, she walked past the shelves and into another section of the room where another desk was.

Books were littered in this section than around the shelves.

Papers were scattered around the desk, crumbled with hands that had no concern for it. The stapled reports looked to be thrown around, along with the books. She couldn't even imagine what might've happened to have caused this, or why the person would abandon such valuable history and why it would be left for a delinquent to vandalize it. Or maybe the information pissed someone off or that that there was some kind of fight placed in this very room, years before she was born or taken acknowledge of by the Shin-Ra people.

Picking up some of the reports, she brushed away the dust and read the facts on there.

_The JENOVA project has breached its desirable proportion. Information was collected on the advent child, who was birthed days before and is now under tests and injections of JENOVA cells and mako. The desirable name for this child was given shortly by scientist Lucrecia, the birthing mother, named him Seph_-- the page seemed to be ripped in half.

Nanashi's eyes narrowed, flipping the page over to search for further information but found nothing.

Just who was this person that came here before her?

Sighing, she placed the page on the desk and searched the shelves for the other half, but no luck. The person who ripped the page, certainly wasn't happy with the information or just didn't want anyone else to find out the child's name.

Picking up a few books, she flipped through the books for hours, searching for about 10 that she can sneak with her when she's finished her mission.

She grabbed two books on the lifestream, three on mako, two on the Ancients, two on JENOVA, and the remaining small book, apparently an unfinished project, with no title.

Take the books, she stuffed them in her messenger bag, along with 7 reports, before leaving the place. She decided not to take the books or reports to Shin-Ra but for herself to do some research, Shin-Ra's hiding valuable information from her and she does _not_ like it.

Searching the room containing the tanks once more, she proceeded to the door she was dying to check out the moment she spotted it. The smear of her fingers against the thick coat of dust was still present, showing how old the place was left untouched.

Once again, she careful knocked on the door before fiddling with the doorknob. It was locked. A very stubborn lock that won't let her cease her curiosity.

Digging in her pockets, there has to be some sort of pick she can use.

Taking out some hair clips that Rufus ordered her to use, but she stubbornly refused, she used them to fiddle in the keyhole and managed to open it.

Grinning, she forced the door open as quietly as she can so she wouldn't have a repeat of the falling dirt. The thick musty air hit her the moment she took a step into the room, causing her to cover her mouth and breath through the sleeves of her shirt that thinned it out.

There, in the middle of the room amongst the remains of humans was a coffin, one that stood out more than the other empty coffins seeing as this one had a closed lid.

Taking her gloves off, she placed them in her pockets before letting her bare, pale hands take leverage under the lid and slid it off carefully as she can. In there was what surprised her the most.

* * *

"Whoa, a golden gauntlet! They can actually do this to people?" Nanashi marveled at the gauntlet, tempted to touch it but feared that something would happen. "This guy must've been down here for years, it's so cold, I can't see how anyone would stay in a cold, unventilated room" she narrowed her eyes.

Finally the curiosity got the best of her, driving her to carefully put her hand out and _touch_ the man.

Not even an inch or two away, his hand shot out. The golden gauntlet held a strong grip on her wrist, driving the sharp fingertips to penetrate her skin warningly.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice smooth as skip, yet deep like velvet.

"My name is Nanashi, who are you? How can you live here?" Nanashi asked, eyeing the man suspiciously.

"My name is of no importance. I am repenting for my sins, now I'd like to go back to my eternal rest." he said, holding his hand out and actually _floated_ the lid shut on his coffin.

"Jeeze, staying in here's made you a woman" Nanashi growled out, thinking of the man's _PMS'ing_.

"Staying in here has kept me separate from the world. I no longer have people suffering in my presence, now go" he ordered.

Strange, she had a feeling he'd say something like _'What ever floats your boat.'_

"Wait, there's this room beyond the tanks." Nanashi started.

"… What of it?" he asked.

"There's this ripped report, it has this name that won't leave me alone, but the problem is that it only has 4 letters to it" she continued.

"… Go on." Vincent said like he was talking to child, only vaguely interested.

"The thing is, it starts with S.E.P.H, do you know anything about it?" she asked, thinking she might even be able to actually hold a conversation with this man.

"… I don't know. Get out." Vincent ordered, not sounding too happy with the question.

"But it's all I want to know!" Nanashi pressed on, getting frustrated on why everything doesn't seem to be going her way.

"Go."

"But--"

"GO."

"Fine, jeeze. This won't be the last of me, pretty boy. I'll haunt you till the day you die!" Nanashi grinned; thinking that'd shut him up.

"Go back from whence you came, child. I have no intentions on playing 24 questions with you. Be gone, I am most certain that your wait to haunt me till the day you die will be for an eternity. I'm in here for a reason, I am immortal" he explained, sounding like he explained it to people way before. Perhaps maybe himself as well.

"Immortal, you sound like some kind of…" Nanashi trailed off in thought.

"--A demon."

"--A mad-man who wants to rule the world."

Both said at the same time.

"…"

"I'll let myself out, but don't get so cocky! I'll stay put and bore you to death than you already do by staying in that coffin for decades."

"I do not get bored. I _was_ sleeping." Vincent said, making the fact, apparent.

Nanashi rolled her eyes, feeling like this meaningless argument to ensue. But at least she got something out of him, even though it's not exactly conversation material.

"Whatever, here, have this; it's at least some entertainment. You have all the time in the world to figure it out, it just leaves me frustrated" Nanashi frowned, handing him a complicated maze that you had to get the huge ball in the middle and 4 smaller ones in the wholes on the sides in small holes.

Vincent rose a delicate eyebrow, eyeing the thing before tucking it somewhere in his cloak.

"… I'll keep that in mind." He chose his words carefully while speaking.

"Right. You choose the time to do that while I go on home, Rufus is going to punish me if I stay any longer" Nanashi frowned, already visualizing the anger settling into Rufus' cold face.

"Rufus… Rufus Shin-Ra?" Vincent asked, trying not to sound too shocked.

"Er, how'd you know? Were you around when he was born?" Nanashi questioned.

"No. No, I was an ex-Turk for his father." Vincent said, shifting in his coffin since it was slightly awkward talking to someone with the lid closed and the fact that it muffled every sound.

"So you knew his old man, eh? The fat guy with the beard? The one who tries desperately to suck up to me with chocolate and hugs" Nanashi shivered, wiping her face all over as if trying to rid of every memory.

"…" Vincent remained silent.

"Anywho, thanks for this meaningless conversation. I shall escape with every information I have and hope for a better, next impression" Nanashi left the room, closing the door behind her.

"… Next impression?" Vincent questioned himself, wondering why a young mortal would want to have another visit with someone who's been given nothing but hostility.

* * *

"Find anything interesting in there, Scout?" Reno asked, flicking a cigarette butt away.

Nanashi rose an eyebrow at the filter falling to the ground, sizzling in a rain puddle. It's been raining out for quite some time, maybe even while she was in there for who knows how long. And its still continuing to rain.

"I didn't know you smoked" Nanashi finally said.

Reno breathed out the last bit of the cancer stick. "I just started. And that's not the point. I thought you died or something in there, yo. Took an awfully long time just to check things out. What did you find?" he asked.

"Nothing of importance. Just an old library with a lot of book reports" Nanashi nodded her head.

Reno quirked his eyebrow, then squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"Are you sure? Cause I hate when people lie, cause I can smell it" Reno pointed from his nose to her. "Just like fear, I can smell it from a mile away." He grinned.

"Fear? Yours were more visible over the line when I didn't answer. What ever happened to_ If you ever get scared, I'm always a few halls, the main room, the exit, the pathway, and a road down if you ever need Cousin _Nanashi _around, K, yo?_" Nanashi stated coolly.

"Hey, so I was a little concerned, alright?" Reno defended his pride.

"Sure, whatever" Nanashi looked at him dryly.

"Now eat up, you've been gone in there for over 5 hours. Thought you took a nap and decided to go buy some" Reno handed out a large package of beef jerky.

Nanashi sighed, before taking the beef jerky Reno lent out to her.

"Thanks" she mumbled, nibbling at the end.

* * *

"There" Nanashi tumbled out the last book from her messenger bag, but had to carefully take out the reports so they wouldn't crumble on contact.

"Now to make sure no one's around," she said, glancing back and forth around the room before somersaulting towards the door and locked it. "No more disturbance" she sat on the edge of her bed before grabbing a book about the lifestream.

_The planet was created millions of years ago, made of reincarnated souls, life sources to form the_ lifestream. _The lifestream is the center of the planet, keeps things flowing. If ever disrupted, ancient guardians called_ Weapon _would come out and terrorize the source and possibly destroy the planet as it's last resort of self-destruction. Being in contact with the lifestream would resort to mako poisoning, no cure to ever be discovered. A tribe known as the Ancients was a key of vast knowledge, now extinct. The last remaining Ancient died off; leaving a child whom later on disappeared. Another Ancient, our project, JENOVA, as of today, is still being tested on_. started the first page.

"Nanashi, get your ass to bed. We're going weapon and clothes shopping, yo" Reno ordered from behind the door, leaving behind a few knocks then left.

Nanashi slowly looked up, staring straight ahead of her with a very dry look, already planning her funeral since Reno's the one who's taking her, and also that he's not exactly the best driver. He's more so a driver with luck to avoid every other vehicle. A _lot_ of luck.

Sighing, she closed the book, got up and turned off the light before crawling into bed. Now that she thought about it, where was she supposed to go clothes shopping? Inwardly groaning, she'd think it over _when_ she gets in Reno's red sports car. Although Rufus ordered black, but Reno refused since he said '_Chicks dig the Red, and red.'_ Just another one of his lame puns for bringing up his flaming hair he thought every woman loved.

* * *

"NANASHIGETUP,SHOPPINGTIMEOHMU-HU-HAHA" Reno yelled, kicking open the door with an almost psychotic look on his face, keyword, almost. Reno's face still held a lot of its goofiness that it over ruled the supposed evil look.

Nanashi shot up in bed, her eyes had the tint of red from waking up so suddenly that hasn't had the chance to adjust to the light.

"Relax, you're already changed. Now let's go, yo!" Reno grinned, grabbing onto a flustered looking Nanashi out of bed.

_Oh planets, why me?_ she thought, feeling an instinct to cry.

But that thought was quickly pushed away once the fact that she's been changed registered in her brain.

"WHAT?!" she roared.

* * *

"Can't you slow down?" Nanashi not so much as of yelled, gripping onto the door so tight that it'd probably crack.

"If I slow down, we'd be stuck in traffic. And all I know is that Reno doesn't want that, and neither do you" Reno replied, veering the steering wheel over the right, narrowly missing a transportation truck.

"Since when did _you_ start making decisions for me?" Nanashi asked bitterly.

"Since the day you step foot into my apartment, now shut up for awhile, I'm trying to concentrate" he said, turning up the volume to his music. He wouldn't be listening to music if he didn't force her to tear the seal on his new CD and kindly put it in for him with a side of grudge.

Nanashi had a feeling he just didn't want to hear her talk anymore; that he really didn't need to concentrate by the way he was searching on the floor for his box of doughnuts.

_Mother. Father. If you were up there above me now. Do you agree with the way my life is turning now? Do you even remember what I looked like while growing up to give me away? If you did give me away, just know that I've turned for the better, that I have my own family. What more could any girl want when having overprotective adults running in the older stages of life, ones that are working under Shin-Ra_. Nanashi smiled at the thought before being lurched forward at the sudden use of breaks.

"Told you to buckle your seatbelt."

"How can I when there's none for the passenger seat you dimwit?"

"There is, I just took it out, that's all."

"Why the hell would you go and do a stupid thing like that?"

"Didn't you know? That seat's name is Lucky" Reno grinned.

"…"

"…"

"I want to go home now."

"Ah shit, Rufus is going to kill me. There goes sweet promotion."

Although he was a pervert, he was one to look up to. Though she wouldn't admit that out loud in fear of inflating Reno's pride further than her height. She couldn't even imagine the trouble she'd have to go through to pop it with a needle, maybe starting with Reno's _Red_.

_Now that'll be the thing to remember_. Nanashi grinned, before zoning back to reality that she was vibrating out of her seat from the gravel road Reno sped over.

_And I need to know,_

_Tell me how I should see the light._

_I draw the gun,_

_And I take aim._

_The world stands still,_

_Like a dream._

_I stray._

_I'm crossing the borderline,_

_God's on my side._

_The sacrifice._

_We make in heaven's name,_

_I'm praying,_

_But there's no escape._

_I fire a ball of lead,_

_It's so cold,_

_This can't be love._

**

* * *

**

It's amazing how many years have passed for him since the last time he's seen any light other than the operating light above, the injection of drugs they used to paralyze him, one he couldn't remember at the moment. But now there was a light within the near thirties he's been in there, even if it was artificial, there was civilization, no matter how small.

Small would be the keyword, she was still at her early stages of life, nowhere near of what he used to be. But she could be soon, just with the lack of love, something he envied.

Love hurts, like a shot to the chest. Never mind getting a shot to the head, it'll always be there, even if his heart stopped beating yet he continued on living, it's still there. Before and after he's gone missing, the bullet was still there.

Closing his eyes, he couldn't help but notice the same shape Nanashi's pupils were compared to Sephiroth's.

_That bastard, he couldn't have_. Vincent thought, eyes narrowed, red eyes glowing in the darkness of his coffin. Eyes closing, he figured it wouldn't be his problem considering he still had another eternity to sleep for until he was awakened again by her, or someone else who wasn't dull to the brain.

_And I need to know,_

_Tell me how I should see the light._

_I draw the gun,_

_And I take aim._

_The world stands still,_

_Like a dream._

_I stray._

_And I need to know,_

_Tell me how I should see the light._

_I draw the gun,_

_And I take aim._

_The world stands still,_

_Like a dream._

_I stray._

* * *

**A/N:** Fourth chapter, PWN. I didn't think it'd take this long to finish this chapter, I could've two days earlier since I was nearly done, but I guess me getting frustrated took the inspiration away. But other than that, time to finish other things D, . Writing these days are going down to a minimum, don't know why, maybe cause it's winter out, practically. ::Stares down at the snow.:: 


	5. Hermit's Hole

_The constellation of Leo is twinkling again, bestowing this earth with tears._

_From that day onwards, this back has one side's wing,_

_The day dawns, memories from the stars fade away._

_Even this sky, even this song, why?_

_Losing colour, losing sound, they're not real._

_Your dream enfolds me, it becomes a star that goes on resonating._

_-Alice Nine_

"Yeah, I'll get this and can ya' take her measurements, she's pretty small and I'd like to know for future reference, yo" Rufus smirked, eyeing the woman behind the counter of a designer's place.

Nanashi grumbled, mumbling out incoherent words on how she's wasting her time in having to be pinched and prodded at with measuring tape, how they made her strip off her clothes and leave her standing in her undergarments. It didn't help the fact that Reno eyed her body before whispering in the woman's ear who nodded and left through a door behind her and into another room.

"You're tiny, yet full. You'll become the most gorgeous woman in Midgar, yo," he said, circling her in examination. "A real beauty now, men will flock over you and ditch their girlfriends" he laid a hand on her shoulder.

Nanashi stared at the hand on her shoulder before shooting Reno a warning glare.

Reno immediately took his hand off before holding up both hands in defense. "I don't swing that way, yo. Even if you are my type, I don't date chicks who're 10 years younger" he stated.

_But that doesn't stop a man from dreaming, happens all over Midgar_ he thought, secretly looking at Nanashi's slender legs, soft with youth and snow white, pale. But he knows he shouldn't drink in the form of lust in front of him, he'd be considered a pedophile.

Not long after, before one of the women were able to take her measurements, the woman from behind the counter came out with a pile of clothing. Nanashi managed to catch a glimpse of underwear and bras.

"There we go, I have all the undergarments her size, here" she said, laying them on a bench beside Nanashi. "I hope they'll fit, her body's small but already starting to develop, it won't be too long until she'll have her first boyfriend" the woman said, holding up a bra and examined Nanashi's chest.

Nanashi started to feel violated with the women's and Reno's eyes looking at her chest, one more than the others.

The woman who was holding up the bras noticed Reno's wandering eyes.

"You can discuss this with your boyfriend if you want, I'll just leave you lovebirds alone" she smiled and went back to her position behind the counter.

"But, he's older than me, that's just wrong" Nanashi said dryly, pointing a finger at Reno.

The woman didn't seem to have heard since she was gossiping with the other woman, who flashed around the colourful clothing of the shop they wished to have, but couldn't afford.

"Looks like you're stuck with me" Reno wiggled his right eyebrow.

"Nah, you think?" Nanashi rolled her eyes before shoving the load of bras into Reno's arms. "Hold that, I'm going to have to try them on" she sighed, disappearing into the changing stall.

Reno occupied the time by glancing around the shop, feeling out of proportion to notice that no guys seem to come here, well there was one guy, but he feels it's better that he'd never speak, breath, within the distance of the man's hearing range. Only bad things would happen.

Reno glanced down at the bras in his arms, thinking that he'd maybe snoop a bit and check the size.

"34 C…" Reno trailed off, before nodding in agreement. "That'll work for me, yo" he smirked.

"Well, I'm done for now" Nanashi said after Reno handed her the tenth bra.

In her hands were about 3 new bras, they were sort of plain but easy on the eyes.

Reno took out his wallet and put the card on the desk for the lady to cash, then relaxed with his hands in his pockets.

"We'll shop somewhere else for clothes, then we'll get food and go home, yo" Reno planned out loud.

* * *

"Why do I even bother?" Nanashi sighed, shaking her head in discontent.

Reno was at the arcade, throwing in quarters at each and every machine that fancied in his interest. He played against children and teenagers; some were a few years above Nanashi while others were below. Though a pair of air hockey players managed to catch her attention, both were way too relaxed but the disc was going really fast that it'd slice your fingers if you stuck them in their play zone.

Once again her eyes went across the room, every game was taken except for an old shooting game with plastic guns.

Shuffling the coins in her pocket, she pulled out a few and inserted them into the slot.

The game made a few musical chimes before the menu clicked on and asked which gun she wanted to use. Frowning, Nanashi glanced at all of them before choosing a double-barreled revolver and took a figure of a man before going out to shoot some monsters.

Blood Taste swarmed down from the ceiling in a group of 6, their leathery wings flapped down and their fangs were showing. Their colour was purple.

Aiming the control stick down, making the guy point the revolver up in the air, she targeted in the middle of the group before firing off 6 bullets, piercing them in the chest and caused them to fall down.

Smirking lightly, she made the man move forward to continue on his monster hunt.

Hours went by, overcoming over 400 monsters and 4 bosses, now you were on the last boss to finish the game. Nanashi's health was only a bit off due to some kid hitting into her when running around insanely because he wanted a turn.

She just flicked him away on the forehead and continued on, ignoring the kid's further attempts in getting the game with a temper tantrum, even though he knew it wouldn't be of use and whined off to his mother.

"Time to go Nanashi," Reno said, nudging her on the shoulder.

"Oh so now you decide we should go. I want to decide something for once, and I decide that we're staying" Nanashi managed to shoot Reno a glare from over her shoulder before turning back to her game.

"Well none of us gets to decide this one, yo. The manager's kicking us out, he's looking pretty angry" Reno said, pointing towards the burly looking manager who had a glare on his face, a cigarette pursed between his thin lips and his arms were crossed as if daring someone to defy him.

Nanashi pried her hands off the joggle stick before turning around to face them both. The sound of a losing game made her cringe.

"Uhm. Hello there," she leaned in, squinting her eyes while reading the manager's tag. "Moe. _If that's your real name_. What can I do for you?" Nanashi asked as her feign to be polite.

"The name's Moe" he said while squinting his eyes so close together, the glare was fading away.

"That's nice," Nanashi said, trying to sound indifferent.

"Moe thinks that you and your little friend overstayed your Moe-ish stay. Please move away from Moe's gameshop" he said with a slight lisp, pointing towards the doors.

Nanashi shot Reno a weird look before moving along.

She could've easily threatened him, since she was a Turk and all, but then Rufus would've found out and she'd be chained to the banister in his room, along with his panther, Dark Nation.

"I will leave then" she glanced to the door, creeping along casually and exited.

"Moe said have a nice day," Reno said, also exiting with a more casual walk compared to her walk of a drunkard.

"What's up with that? Damnit." Nanashi asked, kicking a stone.

"It's past closing time, yo" Reno replied.

"Not that. I meant with the talk in third person, it's weird," Nanashi said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You are, who you are. And nothing's going to change that" Reno stated.

"Wow, you actually sounded smart there for a moment, will I have to bottle it up and store it on a shelf for your future family that showed your brief accomplishment in the noodle zone?" Nanashi asked half-seriously and half-jokingly.

"Only you, Scout. Only you" Reno said while shaking his head.

"What?"

* * *

"You're going to have to wear a dress, ya know?" Reno said while flicking a cigarette away.

"Hell no" Nanashi growled, kicking an empty cup away.

"It's the boss, man. And it's a very important meeting; you'll die for sure if you don't follow his precise orders. You know how he gets when me and the others don't follow orders." Reno warned.

"I know, I know. Dinner at 6 and discussions at 8" Nanashi sighed in annoyance.

"Well, at least the dress part has been fulfilled. Here, put it on" Reno tossed a folded up material at her face.

"You bought me a dress? Since when?" Nanashi asked suspiciously.

"Since the time we went shopping for your 'bras'" Reno grinned, the devious glint in his eye glittering like the North Star.

Nanashi grumbled, slipping it over her head, after taking off her pants and sweatshirt.

Underneath her dress was a black wife-beater along with a pair of knee-length shorts that she used as underclothes. Of course, Rufus insisted on something that doesn't show off so much of her skin and wanted her to wear a pair of pants underneath that felt like a second skin to her the second she tried it on.

"You go meet up with Rufus while I just hide under here for awhile" Reno said, pulling up the rug that covered up a trap-door that he opened and showed a well-built tunnel.

"H-How'd you know about that?" Nanashi stuttered, looking surprised.

"Since the day I came looking for you and ended up caving in through this rug here, yo" Reno said, patting at Nanashi's metallic blue and silver rug. "Oh, and just so we keep our friendship tight. Promise not to tell anyone I was here, okay? Thanks, bye yo" Reno said, disappearing under the floorboards and covered and closed the door after pulling the rug over and disappeared.

Nanashi scrunched up her face and walked out of her Shin-Ra building room and walked down the white halls and down to where the dinner meeting was held.

Stopping in front of the double doors with fine designs of suns and planets, the most particular planet was the sun and the earth, another planet included that sort of captivated her. It reminded her of something close to earth, yet there was one huge land and one island. Studying it for awhile, she then decided to do some research on it in the labs of the Shin-Ra mansion; meaning she got to see Vincent again.

Quirking her lips around between a smile and a frown, she entered the doors with an indifferent face.

What she saw before her eyes was a long dining table, along with a few shorter ones like it. Almost every chair was taken, except for the one right beside Rufus.

Rufus held the neck of his wineglass with two fingers placed under it. He was talking to the person beside him. The person beside him had their long blonde hair held delicately in a unique bun with locks of it leaking out of it fashionably. The slender woman wore a red dress that showed a lot of her smooth back and cleavage at front.

Once the door opened, Rufus looked up with those blue mysterious eyes of his and motioned Nanashi with a raise of his head, motioning her to sit beside him.

The woman looked up and rose a dainty eyebrow, she had blue-green eyes and red lipstick painted on her full lips. Then she turned her attention towards Rufus with her lips moving and forming words unheard by her.

Patting down her dress at the invisible creases, Nanashi made her way towards the two with over a hundred pairs of eyes watching her every move.

Once she stood by Rufus's side, only then did everyone return to what they were talking about, except for Rufus's end of the table.

"So who's this charming young lady, Rufus?" the blonde woman asked, quirking her eyebrow in question while taking a dainty sip from her wine glass and ran her fingers down Rufus's arm.

Rufus twitched his finger before removing his arm from her grasp and brushed it.

"This _young lady_ is Specimen 762a, Nanashi. She's been here for a little over 2 weeks now" Rufus introduced, keeping his eyes on Nanashi as he took a sip from his glass.

Nanashi clutched her arm out of a sudden habit and squirmed under his cold gaze.

"Oh? If there's an A, shouldn't there be a B?" the woman asked, smirking slightly with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

Nanashi for one didn't like it.

"You should already know what happens to the second specimen of an experiment, Scarlet" Rufus scowled, fingering the throat of his glass, almost making it shine at the sudden motions from his clean fingers. "That's not a topic to discuss in front of a succeeded experiment, now is it?" Rufus asked, daring Scarlet to object.

Scarlet once again rose her dainty eyebrow before tilting her head, allowing her loose blonde strands to brush against her shoulder.

"I think we should, darling. The project deserves to know now, doesn't she?" Scarlet asked, patting Rufus on his arm, who once again pulled it away from her grasp and brushed it off.

"I don't think you're in the position to order me around, now. Go away, this discussion is now over" Rufus waved his arms, allowing Tseng and Reno to heave Scarlet away from his sight.

"Come on lady, stop bothering the boss, yo" Reno ordered while latching onto her left arm.

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, Nanashi studied the one bruise near his eye. Other than the bruise, nothing looked out of proportion or injured. She supposed that who ever he was hiding from, found him and gave him a smack for whatever he deserved.

Reno caught her glance and winked before pulling a resistant blonde woman away.

"I suggest that you put aside your struggling and let us take you away. We don't want things to get a little under hand." Tseng said calmly, tightening his grasp on Scarlet's right arm.

Scarlet's breathing was starting to get a little controlled; her final huff blew the strand of hair around her face like a cat playing with a string. Relaxing, she was then able to tuck it behind her ear before leaving with the two, but not without her last words of the night.

"Someday, someone other than you will be telling her, now _that_ would be such a pity. Kya-ha-ha-haaa!" she laughed, holding onto her slim stomach with one hand while the other partially covered her mouth.

Nanashi covered her ears at the sudden shrieks of laughter coming out of the beauty's mouth. Having sensitive ears around the woman would be the death of her.

Once the doors closed, only then did people resume their conversations.

"Have a seat, Nanashi" Rufus smoothly motioned his hand to the chair to the right of him as if presenting the chair.

Nanashi was about to pull the chair out but a butler beat her to it.

"Good even--" The butler was cut off by the doors being thrown open by a SOLDIER.

"The barracks are being under attack by monsters!" he yelled in urgency with a low level of concern in his voice.

_The people here really did train them well_ Nanashi thought, narrowing her eyes.

Rufus stood up.

"Take as many SOLDIERs as you can and some doctors. Nanashi, you go with him" he ordered, waving his hand to the SOLDIER's direction. "And where is my father?" he asked in a tone that Nanashi couldn't figure out.

"He's in another meeting and doesn't want to be disturbed" the SOLDIER replied, handing Nanashi a SOLIDER's uniform.

While the two talked, she slipped away behind a rolling cart and quickly changed in the oversized uniform, strapped her sword on her back and 5 throwing knives to her leg.

The doors burst open again, and in came the Turks.

"Sir, we're going to have to evacuate immediately" Tseng ordered calmly, standing by Rufus's side.

Rufus glanced at him, then at Nanashi, before turning towards the doors.

Watching with her eyes, she sighed at the sudden tension of the situation and accepted the gun the SOLDIER handed her.

Raising her eyebrow in question, he shrugged casually in reply.

"You're going to thank me later on, there's some tricky aerial bastards that took out half a squad and sent them to immediate care" he explained, loading up his gun.

Studying the gun, she strapped the belt around her neck and ran to catch up to him.

"How do you feel about going on your very first 'defend the nation' sort of mission?" he asked over his shoulder. "I know that I was so nervous that I was about to vibrate out of my seat" he chuckled.

Nanashi shrugged. "It's all natural to me, I'm used to it the first day I was let out" she replied.

The SOLDIER eyed her in curiosity before giving her the peace sign.

"The name's Coltyn."

"My name's Nanashi."

Coltyn grinned while Nanashi let out a smile to be polite with the introductions.

"Well, let's go Nanashi" Coltyn said, jumping out an open window with the curtains flapping around with the harsh winds.

Tucking the loose strands behind her ear, she looked outside at the damage done to the defense force.

There was fire and barricades that blocked off the streets, there were about 10 SOLDIERS at almost every second street, guarding the place or fighting off the monsters. Gunfire would've deafened her if the SOLDIER didn't hand her a pair of earplugs along with the uniform. Her hearing was now like what a normal human would be hearing; it was almost as if it was nothing to them.

"What in Planet's name?" Nanashi asked, eyes wide with surprise before dimming down to a pure adrenaline type one would have when facing an interesting foe.

There flying in front of her was a Red Dragon. Yet there was some differences.

As soon as its black slit-like pupil met with her figure, it opened its mouth and allowed a fireball to form out and shoot at her.

Holding up her hand, the materia placed in the armor at her arm glowed green and she unleashed Ice 3.

The Ice attack nullified the Red Dragon's fire.

Swinging her gun out of place, she strapped off her sword, unsheathing it and glittered in an orange and red colour within the reflection of flames down below, licking off buildings and engulfing flammable objects.

Looking for an opening, she jumped when the Red Dragon let out its roar and landed on its muzzle before dragging her sword along the spine of the dragon.

The scales of the lizard body emitted sparks from her blade, showing how powerful its defense was capable of. As proud as she was to have killed the monster, her hands took a total to it on how hard she had to drive the tip into the plates of pure steel-like scales.

The monster let out another roar while glowing a very bright blue from the cuts placed along its spine.

"What the?" Nanashi managed to get out before getting blown away.

The damn dragon blew up.

Letting out a surprise gasp, her body flipped around like a skydiver.

Except that she didn't have a parachute.

Suddenly what sounded like a gun before fired off, a net captured her in its web and she was pulled back to whoever had caught her.

"I gotcha squirt, I thought you were a goner there, yo. Good thing I saved yea'" Reno said, pulling her close to his body and squishing the crap out of her. "You were about to be dragon bait if I haven't arrived, look" he pointed down at a quickly descending object.

Reno shoved a pair of binoculars in her hands and directed it at the object.

The object was the dragon's head and its jaws were wide open. She then got what he was saying by dragon bait.

"Er, thanks Reno" Nanashi said meekly while smiling a little.

"No problem. Up she goes!" Reno said, lifting her up by the armpits.

A helicopter appeared right in front of them, the sudden waves of wind whipped her clothes around, hitting her face and getting into her eyes.

"Go lower!" Reno yelled to the helicopter while motioning his hands down.

The helicopter lowered and Reno whispered something in her ears before tossing her into Rude's open arms.

"Behave yourself squirt" Reno waved, shouldering his EM rod onto his shoulder.

Rude strapped Nanashi into a seat, buckling her and making sure it was on tight by giving the belts a few quick tugs. Seeing that it was correct, he sat himself back into the pilot's seat and maneuvered the helicopter towards the exit of Midgar.

"_When you get back, I may not be around for a long time"_ Was what Reno whispered.

And Nanashi had a feeling she was going to have a hard time trying to decipher his message and that itself will drive her crazy.

"That's pretty good for your first mission in protecting the city, Nanashi. Congratulations, father will be proud that you protected his company" Rufus said while patting her on the hand before eyeing darkly at the sunset sky, that's being sprinkled with the positions of stars.

_He sounded like I did something right, yet wrong. Is it possible that he wants to ruin his father's position as President?_ she eyed Rufus suspiciously.

The starry sky is twinkling again, this earth is exalted with tears.  
The galloping time gives out light, this world without you is "Fantasy". 

Because of you my heart is hurting.

The splinters are still lodged there.

Even this flower, even that bird, even the wind, even the moon, it stops time.

Even if I close my eyes and make-believe, it's no use.  
You turned into ash, became so small.  
I don't understand, has this world gone mad? Peacefully, aaah

Reno walked down the alleys of Midgar, his mission was to search for valuable information that would help Rufus's asset to his position in the company. He had a feeling Rufus was up to something, something that concerned the President.

_But why would he want to search up on Nanashi. Didn't she grow up in Shin-Ra or something?_ he thought, tossing around a pouch of gil before walking into a bar to collect information.

It seemed like a party was going on inside, there was people all over the place. Women beside men, enjoying the attention they were being given. It was his sort of club.

_I'll search for answers_ after _the party is over. Until then, hello ladies_ he smirked at the eyes he was getting from any woman who caught site of his figure and drank in his manliness.

Or sexiness, according to Reno that is.

The starry sky is twinkling again, this earth is exalted with tears.  
The galloping time gives out light, this world without you is "Fantasy". 

How much time will pass, because the stars are falling…  
So here, thrumming, the affections you have giving me are "Forever".

From this day onwards, this back has lost one side's wings. Fantasy- Alice Nine

* * *

And so there I end it, whoot. I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish this today, seeing as Ky is making me want to watch Inuyasha, movie 3 x-x. I think I will. Trottles off. :3. I'm finally posting the chapter up here seeing as how I was too lazy to delete the html codes and such. Ehm, please review? Maybe? Oh! And thanks for Ky who inspired me to finish writing this chapter, and helping me with my family problems! 3. 


	6. Song of the sheep in dark long night

_I knew it from the beginning. So I'm not sad._

_Little by little, little by little, it's as counting numbers._

_The colours of dying plants get blurred, I don't find out the end of season._

_The day, which traces footsteps, reads the day, which listens to footprints._

_It is common that I cannot change tomorrow if I don't have any wishes._

_-Ruki the GazettE_

**Important Note:** Ugh, sorry for switching Nanashi's name around in previous chapters. I've read the first chapter over and seen how her age went from _13_ to **15**, and back to _13_ again. If only life were like that. Ahaha.

**Warning:** This chapter is not for people who have weak stomachs. You will know, soon enough.

"Too bad. You were cute, yo" Reno said while ignoring the warm liquid splashing onto his face.

Since the hour he entered the club, he's been swimming through, blending in with the crowd of men and women who were dancing. Although he bought shots of vodka, Rufus specifically told him not to drink or else it'd jeopardize the mission and then ordered him to make sure _everyone_ was down and bleeding. Meaning he had to stain his hands- he never did **_drank_ **the vodka, though.

Reno always regretted every hit he made, even though it was his fault.

He knew he shouldn't have gotten so close to that blonde woman, who got him drunk, yet sober enough to notice her check over his ID and pointed a gun at his head, almost similar to Nanashi's, yet there were different designs. He knew it couldn't be the same, seeing as it could've been imported from somewhere else.

Even though his vision was fogged, his instincts made him grab his electrical rod and zapped her.

By then, the crowd went into panic mode, the guards swarmed around him and the other guests were trying to pile out of the door, but found out the door was locked.

Reno smirked, he knew there was no getting out seeing as the door was metal and doubled for protection, and the walls were made of tiles. So basically they were like sheep stuck inside of a pen, and the wolf was about to get them.

Sighing, he felt awful doing this, but he had no choice.

There was only one reason and one reason alone as to why he took such a brutal mission.

Rufus was going to make Nanashi do it.

"Request for 'coptor, get me out of here. Mission accomplished" Reno said quietly into his headgear while counting the number of bodies that was no longer in-taking air.

"Roger that, Reno. Get to the top of the building, we'll get you out of there, pronto" the commissioner of the helicopter said, getting blurred out with the sound of the propeller cutting through air.

Reno sighed, clicking his radio off, and started to walk up the stairs in a slight daze.

Nanashi has no idea how he much he really looks out for her, he loved her as a friend. And already she was made as a tool at the age of 15. Even that was a little too much for him, considering he started at the age of 18, even though that was still young, but 3 years older than what she was made out to be.

The difference between them was that he was willing.

* * *

_The_ Jenova _project was put aside until further notice; the test results of project Advent Child came in. All signs were positive, the child is currently being washed down with fluids, though poison to the touch, his skin is still in the same state it was in before the tests. He's perfectly healthy, a built human machine about to be put to the test. _ Seph-- 

"Ah for f--, oh forget it. I'm never going to find a document that actually has the full name of this Advent Child" Nanashi said, throwing the document away, and curled her knees to her chest, staring dryly at the clean plywood floor of her room at Reno's apartment.

Sometimes she wondered why Reno seemed to be taking a lot of missions lately, and she wished she could go on one. She's never really been on one since she joined the company, although, unwillingly.

Glancing off to the side, she heard the door to the apartment open and was much too exhausted to greet him home, like she's usually found to do. She figured it was something they made her do to show respect to her _creator._

There was a loud _clunk_ by the door, the sound of metal hitting against the tile floor.

And then came the lugged sound of footsteps stumbling about, almost as if the person was exhausted and didn't care how a normal human being would walk.

Then the footsteps were heard coming down the hall, stumbled into the bathroom and the sound of retching came to her ears.

Cringing, she wondered what upset Reno to be regurgitating, which was surprising seeing as he's one of the people who controlled the urges, even during a hang over.

Although her body denied it, she got up anyway and opened the door to her room and peeked out.

The silhouette of Reno's figure was pronounced by the bathroom lights, along with a louder sound of retching and vomit hitting the toilet bowl came more apparent the closer she got to the bathroom. She ignored the putrid, sweet scent of stomach acid, even though it wasn't exactly a walk through a flower meadow, she stopped by the doorframe and watched Reno's body shiver, almost as if he were having a minor seizure.

Kneeling on the right side of him, she avoided looking into the bowl and held his hair out of the way and made some calming motions on his back while humming.

She didn't know why she hummed; it just came to her distinctively.

It felt like she heard a similar tune somewhere far off, like in her past when she was just a child.

_I follow the sound of dying plants. And I feel the end of season._

_When the flowers are blooming, what will be left of my hand?_

_The moon closes the curtains. But the sun shines on me._

_I knew it from the beginning. So I'm not sad._

The voice that muttered those words out before struck the jewel within her mind, causing herself to start coughing violently. For some reason those words hit her as if spoken in her past life. They felt beautiful and wise, yet distant and sad. Almost full of angst as if the person experienced such.

She distinctively remembered the wet feel and smell of salty tears falling down her cheeks. But the source of it was not from her, but from an older, taller figure holding onto her.

A face flashed across her mind. It was a feminine form of Tseng and she was wearing a kimono, looking to be in her late 30's, yet her face read youth despite her age. The woman was also Wutaiese, judging by the shape of her eyes curving into almonds, her full lips, pale skin, black hair, and a similar red dot on her forehead identical to Tseng's.

Nanashi found it safe to say that it was his mother, but why would she be holding on to her?

Her coughing became more violent with tears peaking at the corner of her almond shaped eyes, threatening to roll down if she wasn't able to stop soon.

Reno's retching ceased a few minutes earlier and started to panic after finding Nanashi's face contorted in pain and her eyes wide with horror. Now he knew for sure that it wasn't her getting nauseated after his sudden vomiting spell, and that she was having a coughing fit over something else.

Flushing the toilet, he shut the lid with his foot while he washed his hands and face quickly. He grabbed a tooth brush, piled a high amount of toothpaste on it, shoved it in his mouth while sprinted to the kitchen to run the tap, and dug around in the cupboards for a clean glass, but to find it empty except for a thin line of dust.

"Shit, why the fuck is there no fuggin' cups in the cupboard" he yelled out in stress, ready to rip his delicate threads of hair from his head.

He grabbed a bowl, filled it with water and carefully made his way to the bathroom.

Halfway there, Nanashi's coughing stopped and nearly made him drop the bowl. Quickening his pace, he ignored the cold water splashing on his hands and soaking his shirtsleeves.

Sliding into the doorframe, he stared down at the unconscious girl on the floor.

* * *

"How can you be so idiotic as to leave the specimen unattended for so long. I told you to bring her in every month for check ups to record how she's adapting to a new way of life, you stupid man" Hojo snarled, scribbling down on his clipboard while staring at the near nude form of Nanashi in the recuperation tank. 

Once again, she was put in a tank filled with green liquid, similar to what the past General was immersed in years before. In fact, it was the same tank, never been used after him.

And Reno had a feeling that they rarely cleaned it, seeing as it's only water in the tank and nothing else. Well, nothing else other than the same chemicals used for both specimens and the body itself is put in it.

Hojo was a man found to have most things unclean, seeing as his hair was greasy and his office a mess.

"Oh, uh, I forgot… I'm… sorry?" though Reno's questioning apology rang in deaf ears, seeing as Hojo was much too busy fussing over his precious experiment that went under a huge amount of injections to the arms, the needle pumping Jenova cells into her body, along with more Mako.

"Get out, you insistent annoyance. I'm busy here" Hojo snapped, then tapped on the tank with his pen.

Although Reno felt guilty leaving Nanashi in the presence of a man doing more tests on her fragile form, he knew he had to leave if he wanted her to return back to normal and wake up without having another fit.

* * *

"I feel like, ugh, yo" Reno stated while sinking down in his seat at Midgar's bar, Seventh Heaven. 

Rude made his acknowledgement with a grunt to Reno's statement, sipping on his cold bear, later to wipe the froth from his lips. Silently, he knew what his partner went through and would make a few surprising and once in a blue moon, comments every now and then.

Though Reno didn't take the time to soak in such an event, but continued to sulk in a pool of shame.

He figured that bringing Reno out to a bar at night would cheer him up, and ordered food and 2 mugs of beer on the side, along with ice water. And not to mention that the bar tender was a woman in a mini skirt and a halter top with to his knowledge, and with a man nature of surveyance, she also did have rather large breasts. He coughed, clearing his throat at the sudden intensity of his examination of others.

"Well, bottoms up" Reno said, suddenly feeling the vibe of his self-nature kicking in.

Rude's eye twitched, but then avoided changing his mood by taking a sip from his mug and ignored the cheshire grin spreading on Reno's face as his mouth filled with the brew.

Rude somehow has already regretted his action to allowing him to drink beer that night.

* * *

"Man, whoeva' knew that I'd be able to live wit a--such a great kid like Na-Nanashi" Reno slurred out, being supported by Rude, and also sloshing his beer bottle around, taking swigs every now and then between speech. 

"I love her so much, I'd mawwy--mawrey-- ah, god, yo" he hiccuped.

Rude rolled his eyes, getting irritated with each little speck of froth flying onto his freshly dry-cleaned suit. Although he's pretty laid back about his sunglasses, unless someone takes it from him, then he'd be fine, he always had an extra pair in his jacket somewhere. But you never mess with the suit, especially when it's a beverage he loves being used so abusively.

He grunted, carrying him to his bedroom, and passed a conscious Nanashi, who stared at the both of them in confusion.

Scrunching her nose up in disgust at the sudden scent of alcohol that lingered in the air after he passed.

"What's up with him, and why is he laughing like that?" she asked, pointing at Reno, who's head was rotating around, looking like he'd snap it off while laughing maniacally. He was mumbling something about sheep and numbers under his breath, hiccuping every now and then and a thin line of red coated his cheeks.

She couldn't tell if it was either beer or drool dripping down the corner of his mouth, but either one was still utterly disgusting.

"Bar" Rude replied, short and simple.

"Great, I'm going to have to deal with this idiot now?" Nanashi asked, kicking Reno's hand who laughed even harder.

Rude grunted, adjusting his glasses after getting whacked in the face by the red head.

"Well, uh, need any help?" she asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head while watching Reno twirl his head around, looking like it's about to fly away this time, with a chorus of 'bwa-ha-ha's'.

"Reno forgot his wallet," Rude said, dropping Reno on his bed.

"Okay… where?" Nanashi asked, having a feeling she might be regretting the place that she'll be going to.

"Seventh Heaven" he said, adjusting his sleeves after they wrinkled.

"And where is that?" she asked, keeping a mental note check in her memory.

Rude didn't reply; he just kept straightening out his sleeves, and then she knew that she wasn't going to get any more information out of him. He must've went over his talking limit already, seeing as he did go to the bar with Reno. It must've been some woman there that Rude wanted her to help Reno to cheer up, over some odd reason that she still had yet to find out.

"Okay, I'll just find it on a journey through the sectors" she said slowly and disappeared back into her room to change out of her pajamas.

After she left her room, she found the apartment empty and assumed Rude had left already.

* * *

The slums of Midgar ever awake, most bars were open and not yet had she found Seventh Heaven. Drunken men littered the street, some of them playing 'Ring around the Rosy' with the light poles. 

Nanashi cringed in disgust, glaring at the one's who looked at her, and pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth. Although the slums seemed to be pretty laid back, there was still rape incidents that happened at night, and she was in no mood to be battling drunks off at the moment.

"They just had to choose a bar in the slums" she muttered, glaring fiercely at the ground.

Kicking a rock, she watched as it skipped across the street and stopped at a set of wooden stairs, leading up to another bar that seemed to be quieter than the others. She would've thought that it was closed, but the lights were on and laughter was coming from within.

"Seventh Heaven, eh?" she said, raising an eyebrow and walked up the stairs and in.

"And I thought the bar Reno would've chosen, would be rowdier than this" she said to herself, letting her finger slide on a table that was very clean, no speck of dust or bits of food or liquid.

"Hello there" A woman's voice welcomed from up ahead.

Looking up from the table, she spotted the woman cleaning mugs with a smile directed at her. She had a white halter-top, and a rather large bosom. Her hair was long and brown, tied back in a low ponytail and her eyes were the colour of mahogany

_No wonder why both Rude and Reno came here_. She thought, embarrassed of the male's mind.

"My name's Tifa, sweetie. What can I do for you?" she asked warmly, never once did that smile falter from her face.

"My name's Nanashi, and I came here to pick up my friend's wallet that he _**stupidly**_ accidentally left here" Nanashi replied, smiling sweetly and left that little insult to herself.

"Oh, I was wondering when someone was going to pick it up. He left drunk and I thought that he wouldn't remember where he left it. Well, here it is" she said, grabbing the wallet from her skirt pocket and handed it to Nanashi.

"Thanks, he would've went berserk if he found it missing in the morning" Nanashi said, stuffing it into her pocket and removed the scarf from over her mouth.

Tifa's eyes widened as Nanashi done so, seeing a face flash across her mind.

"Why does she look like-- he's gone though" Tifa reassured herself, then revived that smile on her face after she got over the surprise. She assumed that Nanashi didn't notice, since she was still looking down as she still shoved the wallet in her pocket.

Tifa figured she had to get to know more information about Nanashi before further assuming things.

"So, where'd a young girl like you come from? You've certainly didn't come here to drink" Tifa chuckled, choosing her words wisely when questioning the girl.

If Nanashi were anything at all like the General, then she would at least detect something within Tifa's words. Fortunately to her relief, Nanashi really didn't notice anything seeing as not one expression landed on her face throughout the time she arrived at her bar.

* * *

"So how old are you anyway?" Tifa laughed at the events Nanashi told her of on her adventure with Reno, and how often he seemed to screw things up in a comical way. 

"I'm 15" Nanashi replied while sipping the iced tea Tifa handed her earlier.

"I could've sworn you were older than that" Tifa remarked, feeling shocked at how mature Nanashi's body was at such a young age. Age of development and becoming a woman, the most emotional part of every girl's life. Yet Nanashi seemed to have by-passed most of that stuff, and ignored the looks she received from the other customers.

Either that or she was dense to it all.

"Ah, I get that a lot" Nanashi said, setting her glass down on the counter, now finished with her Iced Tea.

"What time is it?" she asked, finally realizing that she's been there for quite a while.

"It's--" Tifa turned around to look at the clock on the wall. "1:09, why? Oh! That's right, we were supposed to close an hour ago, and I guess I should let you go now" Tifa smiled, then set the cloth she used to clean the counter top down and announced to everyone else that she was closing up.

The drunks just lifted their heads and returned to whatever they were doing.

"I hate it when they do this" Tifa frowned, narrowing her eyes in annoyance, then turned back to Nanashi with another sweet smile. "Sorry about that."

Nanashi smiled back lightly, finding Tifa's change of moods, amusing.

"It's no problem, all men are like this ninety percent of the time" she reassured her with another smile.

Tifa's smile grew and was about to say something, but got interrupted.

"Tha' hell you &&$#& Insert Barret word, Inser Barret word, _mother fucker_, here doing here! Scram!" A man's voice yelled from the doorway before a round of ammunition rang through the air along with the cries of fright from men that scurried out of the bar.

Tifa sighed, placing a hand to her forehead and shook her head in embarrassment.

"Barret, what did I tell you about damaging the tables" Tifa scolded, narrowing her eyes at the black man.

"Aww, Tif (Pronounced, Teef), I was just trying to get rid of them" Barret defended.

Tifa sighed; hands rested on her hips while she shook her head. After she raised her head, there was a gentle smile on her face. "At least you got rid of them" she joked.

"Eh, who's the squirt?" Barret asked, looking down at Nanashi.

"Nanashi" Nanashi said before Tifa could reply, she had a feeling this Barret guy would be giving her a lot of the same nicknames Reno has given her.

"Yes, and Nanashi was about to return home. Barret, Nanashi, Nanashi, Barret" Tifa introduced the both, ignoring the looks both man and teenager were shooting at each other.

"Yes, I'm about to leave" Nanashi shot a wicked glare at him before leaving.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Barret said, rubbing his chin, feeling the stubs of his whiskers.

Tifa frowned; she also felt something about Nanashi that others were able to notice as well. _Oh well,_ she thought. _I'll just have to keep my guard up and see what the future brings_. She looked through the window and up at neon lit district and imagined a starry sky, remembering past memories of a childhood friend.

* * *

Sighing, Nanashi ran a shaky hand through her hair and leaned against the closed door. 

She had another one of those feelings that frightened her greatly. It felt like someone was reading her past self, something that she didn't even know about herself, too. Everywhere she went; people seemed to read her easily, it was something that she didn't want, and didn't want to experience anymore.

What is it about her that everyone seems to notice, but not her?

It was like they were seeing someone else in her. Unless someone went through a past with this particular person that caused certain looks to be shot at her right now.

Ceasing her shaking, she walked into the kitchen and filled one of the glasses that were clean.

Someone must've cleaned them, because she didn't do it, and she doubted Reno would do any housework, so she assumed it was a good deed done by Rude himself. She's seen how neatly he kept himself and figured he couldn't stand to see such a mess the both of you made of the place.

Popping the cap from a bottle, she put 2 in her mouth and washed it down with water.

More sleeping pills, if she didn't take them, she'd be up all night worrying, and then read herself to sleep, which would be around 7 in the morning.

No matter how many pills she took, she wouldn't get addicted. She figured it was another enhancement that Hojo made of her. Shrugging, she tilted her head back and rotated it at the junction, trying to relieve the stress from her neck muscles.

Grabbing another document, she left a lamp on and sat at the windowsill.

Flipping through the pages, she already felt the drowsy effects the sleeping pill on her, and stared at the last few words of the document before drifting off, catching a glimpse of fireflies flying off. Even though she couldn't see the sky, she made the fireflies her stars that slowly disappeared and vanished and off to start a new life together as mates.

_Even if I wake up and the night doesn't end. And even if there are no shiny stars there._

_Even if all the lights in town vanish…_

_I saw enough of the happy face of the one I should protect and the end of the one I loved._

_So I am satisfied with it._

_Song of the sheep in dark long night._ Reno whispered the last part in his sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Nayu-desu! Nayu-desu::Rolls around on the floor.:: 

Well, I linked in some parts of the story in with the lyrics. Like when Reno mumbled stuff about sheep when he was drunk, so cute. n-n And yes, noticed how I changed my author's note, name from Kyo to Nayu? xD Well, I accidentally misspelled nauseated and put nayuated. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I worked n-n days on it, and slowly regained motivation for it.

I also would like to thank any reviewers and Quizilla messages, and those who left some comments in the cbox. Love you -

Song, D.L.N by GazettE


	7. Nibelheim

_I can't even figure out where I'm headed. Fading memory is slowly drawn_  
_Towards the wind by a slender thread._

_I listen closely to the voice of my troubled heart,  
__"What in the world  
__was I born to do?"  
__Yes, it's asking._

_The moon is gazing at me.  
__Even now, the answer has yet to come._

_-Gackt Camui_

I thought to myself that Reno would be the first one up, since I stayed asleep longer than him, which seemed kind of eerie seeing as Reno himself sleeps in quite late. But I guess today is different…

"Reno, I made breakfast" Nanashi cringed at the words she used. Never once did she make breakfast before because she really didn't have to since she couldn't wake up early enough.

Not even a sound was emitted from the other side of the door she stood from.

Sighing, she quirked her lips around, thinking on the next plan to get Reno out of his sleeping quarters and out into the daylight where it needed him. She could've easily called Rude over, but he was at work where **she** should be, but was ordered by Rufus himself to look after Reno. He said it had something to do with the mission Reno took the day before.

Just why exactly is everyone keeping secrets from me? She thought in worry, feeling a little betrayed that her fellow Turks refused to tell a single hint. I mean, I've been here for almost a month now. Don't they think I'm responsible enough? I feel weak and useless now that someone has been taking up all the missions for some odd reason and barely left any for me.

She frowned, setting the plate in the fridge, but nearly dropped it after the phone rang.

"Must be the boss" she muttered to herself before lifting the receiver.

"Hello?"

"A mission?"

"Okay. I'll be right there."

"Reno… he's a little preoccupied. I think he's sick so he won't be in today. I thought Rude already explained his situation to you."

"Rude's not at work either? Odd. Well, hai, okay, I'll be right there" she hung up and appeared in thought while nibbling on her lip. Since when did the punctual Rude skip work?

"What's going on with you guys?" she stared at Reno's door suspiciously.

* * *

Reno, feeling a sudden draft in the room had cuddled closer to his blankets. Allowing the perverted dreams to relinquish his mind, he just used the excuse as to feeling sick to stay home that day. The mission didn't really bother him; he was just a little disturbed. And being drunk? He only played that by secretly ordering ginger ale since his stomach did sort of bother him. And the sick act seemed to have played wonderfully, seeing as he forgot to take out the ear plugs in his ears to distract himself from answering any of Reno's or Nanashi's questions the night before.

Rolling over in his sleep, he breathed out a sigh of content before being plagued by another dream, this time not so perverse, but warm, that allowed a gentle smile to brush across his soft features.

* * *

"You are to investigate the tests at the Mako reactor in Nibelheim Mountains. Just be careful, there've been sightings of escaped test creatures that are abnormally strong with their enhanced abilities. Be safe. That is all."

Mountains weren't exactly her forte, seeing as she had a slight fear of heights.

And the dark skies above didn't help, showing that there was going to be quite the rainfall that afternoon and she didn't feel like being dowsed in water that very moment.

"Nanashi, sir. We're almost to Nibelheim" The driver announced.

Why he call her sir, was only a mere acceptation seeing as all his superiors were male, and this was the first to getting a female superior. Unlike most of the other Soldiers, this man wasn't sexist, as the others were every time that they got ordered around by a teenaged girl.

"Thanks for the heads up, Alester" Nanashi nodded her head in his direction in gratitude.

It's been her first mission in near a month since she's joined the Turks and she felt really anxious to get everything all started. And also get off of the truck, since she often had the feeling of nausea take over her once in awhile. But other than that, she was pretty good.

"We're here, Nanashi, sir." Alester announced once again, pulling to a stop in front of the town.

"Thanks again, Alester. Do you think you could wait here long enough?" Nanashi asked, not up to traveling all the way back to Midgar since the long journey would take up to 5 days by foot.

"You may also encounter some things that can't seem to be explainable, you'll know once you encounter it. Although it might frighten you, I have belief in your abilities and courage, which is why I assigned you this task without informing the others. I know why Reno's been taking your missions, so you don't have to worry about the situation anymore.

Don't let your guard down and be at the best of your abilities. Move out." He ordered.

Something unexplainable and frightening? She also remembered asking why has Reno been taking her missions, and if possible, why he was acting the way he did.

And before she was able to ask her second question, Heidegger made his entrance into the office and did that run he made that resembled a tumble doll that rolled around. She wasn't sure if it amused or disturbed her. All she knew was that Rufus was finished talking with her and he was giving off a strong impression that when he orders something, it must be attended to.

"Sure, Nanashi, sir. Just don't be too long," he warned, patting the door of his truck as if it were an animal such as a horse. "I'll just go park and hide the truck and then pay for our night here" he said, driving into the entrance of town and parked the truck by another.

Nibelheim. Wasn't there a rumor that it was burnt down, 4 years ago?

"Hurry up, Nanashi, sir. We need to investigate and pick up rumors that we're able to gather before we head off to the reactor beyond the mountain" Alester motioned with his hand for her to follow.

Standing for a moment, she studied the town.

It seemed to be deprived of its inhabitants and a dog walked aimlessly around the town's square, looking depressed and rather lazy. To her, the town had this foreboding feel to it. It would've been considered a ghost town if the major fact weren't turned on-- that being the lamps in people's homes.

"I tried to get some information out of some of the town's people, but they used an excuse that there was going to be a bad downpour coming soon. It seemed rather suspicious to me," he rubbed his chin in thought, "but we can always get the information out of the innkeeper" he winked with a grin, being rather cocky to the idea in his head that whatever he had planned, won't back fire.

"Didn't it occur to you that we might get kicked out after harassing the innkeeper? I doubt he'd let us walk all over him without some sort of backup," Nanashi said, trying to knock some common sense into Alester's brain.

"You can just go relax in the room while me and Rori figure this out," Alester said, inflating his ego along with the sizes of his biceps.

To escape the manliness parade, Nanashi considered that thought and quickly scampered up the stairs and ignored the start of their conversation. She knew Alester means well, but sometimes he just needs someone to dig his nose up from certain critical areas that involved either their safety, or discovering certain key points that may be of no use to him, or that it might recover some past memories from his questionnaires.

* * *

"Did you ever wonder, why I send you on these types of mission?" President Shin-ra asked, crossing his fingers together while relaxing back in his chair.

Nanashi remained silent and kept her full attention on him, mentally telling him to carry on.

"Certain people have been trying to terrorize us for years, now. It's being a real nuisance, and the right way to clear out these vermin is to extinguish their resources by killing off the connections they relied on. Recently, we've been catching a bunch of traitors, and it's all thanks to you" he grinned, not noticing the gulp she made, and continued. "I'd like to thank you, and will leave you in charge of Rufus for a week. The boy needs a trustworthy friend now, wouldn't he?" he asked, almost daring her to disagree.

Feeling the tension in the air, Nanashi gulped again before replying.

"Yes, President Shinra, sir!" she nearly cringed at how often she felt like a tool, a pawn to this man's plans. And for how much longer was she able to keep up with the guilt of selling out another soul who's possibly trying to serve good to the world by meddling in with the corporation's affairs?

"Excellent," he squirmed around in his chair, appearing to do the happy dance. "Bonding starts tomorrow, just remember to stay close, and not stray too far, Nanashi" he warned with a glint in his eye.

Nanashi gulped again, feeling very uncomfortable in this man's presence. Again, she felt like a pawn to this very man, for reasons she does not know of, well, she was about to find out.

"Just remember that you belong to me, to Shin-Ra! Whatever mission you're given, you will accept with full cooperation. Do I make myself clear?"

"… Yes, sir."

* * *

"We tried to find as much as we could, but after searching through a few boxes, we found out that this town had indeed burned down and that it was Shin-Ra that rebuilt it." Alester frowned, appearing to be in thought while Rori handed Nanashi a slightly aged coloured and burned picture.

Nanashi took the picture in her hands carefully and studied the people in it.

There in the middle was a girl with a hat, along with a brown vest and skirt. She had a rather big smile on her face, but appeared to be slightly nervous. Beside her on the right (or was it left?) was a man with black spiky hair wearing the Soldier's outfit, exact styled uniform Nanashi had on now. He had a rather huge sword on his back known as the Buster Blade. Traveling to the other figure beside the girl, her eyes narrowed in confusion. The man seemed rather tall, and wore a black leather trench coat and black leather pants, he appeared to have long silver hair, but she couldn't see his face since that was one of the areas burned off.

"Hey Alester, do you know this man?" she asked, handing the photo back to Alester.

Alester took the photograph carefully into his hands and narrowed his eyebrows in thought, running his fingers over the burnt corner as he tried to dig up any memories of someone's face of who might fit the body structure and clothing style.

"I'm not quite sure, I heard a rumor that there was a mission that had gone wrong here and that the town burned down. But I'm pretty sure that this is Sephiroth" Alester said, handing the photo back to Nanashi.

Nanashi frowned, wishing to find out who Sephiroth was, now.

"I'm guessing you don't know who Sephiroth is judging by the look on your face" Rori appeared beside Alester after finishing his search through another box. "I wouldn't be surprised that you didn't know, after all, you were in that tank-- sorry" he apologized after noticing her lip curl up in a snarl, and continued, "but nowadays no one ever talks about Sephiroth considering what he did so long ago. You may have heard the term General pop up every now and then." He paused.

"But what I want to know is why this place is up after being burned down" Nanashi frowned, getting a little frustrated with the things she just learned about not making sense.

"It could be possible that President Shin-Ra is trying to cover the events that happened within Nibelheim to the company, not many people know about that horrid event" Rori explained as if he were talking to a small child-- gentle and calm.

Nanashi's lip once again took a small curl, feeling spite towards Rori for not being thorough with much of his explanations, and dare he put sarcasm in? Sure she was put in the tank for a number of years and missed out on much of the world's events, but they could at least treat her as if she wasn't buried 6 feet under and came back to life one day. It makes her feel uncomfortable.

"The only thing that remains intact to this very day is the Shin-Ra Mansion, spooky place if I do say so myself. It has rather bazaar monsters roaming inside, makes a man think, you know?" Rori said, looking out the window and direction at the spooky mansion.

"Do you think I can explore the place for awhile?" Nanashi asked, though she knew she would've gone anyway.

"Sure, we'll keep trying to haggle information out of the innkeeper. Don't stay out too long" Alester winked, while Rori sighed beside him. "Yeah, don't stay out too long. We still have a mission in mind, mind you" Rori reminded her.

"Yeah, I'll be quick" Now's my chance to gather more information on Sephiroth than I already found. It's a lot better hearing it, than reading torn or burned documents Nanashi nodded to herself.

There she stood in front of the familiar mansion that she made frequent visits to. She wondered if she would be able to see the man in the coffin again. And of course, she'll also try and find information about him, too.

Looking around the town, it seemed to be distant from where she stood, even though it was only 10-20 meters away. The spot she stood, was the very same spot that Sephiroth stood during the photograph session. She now wondered if Sephiroth felt the same way she did while being experimented on, feeling like a dog to the President, the Master. And then she wondered if she'd also turn out like him, an incredible thirst to seek out Jenova, otherwise known as Mother.

Rori explained Sephiroth to be a very cold person, emotionless like her, he pointed out. But to the experienced through Hojo's poking and prodding, Nanashi discovered that Sephiroth was just a confused man, corrupted with the injections of Jenova cells.

* * *

_Please let me hear  
__The voice…  
__Please show me  
__The dream…_

_Because even if I fall into unending sleep  
__There's nothing to be afraid of_

* * *

Nanashi ventured down the secret staircase found in the Shin-Ra mansion, having yet to encounter the same creature she did on her first visit. She had a feeling that it wasn't there this time or she would have felt the lurking feeling around her.

The skulls of humans along the pathway still scared her; it reminded her of some kind of sewage passage with toxic waste by how it was glowing. But she ignored all and made her way to the research room, and once again she resisted the urge to go see that man again, even if his red cape dashed across her mind.

Entering the hidden laboratory again, she searched around with her eyes before walking down the aisle of bookcases and stared at the desk.

Avoiding it, she was drawn towards this one part of the bookcase, it felt like something was leading her to it, wanting to feed her with knowledge she desired to learn of. Lifting her hand, she brushed away dust on one of the books, and then pulled.

Taking out a small flashlight from her pocket, she shone it in the opening to find a second set of cracks in the backboard that looked as if a part of it was cut out and then put back in, and used the books as a cover up. Frowning, she carelessly started to chuck books off as if she were possessed, a feeling of excitement arisen inside of her with each book she pulled.

Finally after making a big enough space, she pulled the small compartment apart to discover a set of aged paper and something hard inside of it that had a sort of mist surrounding it.

Curiosity bubbled and she unraveled the object to find a red stone.

Studying it, she noticed on sight that it was a summoning materia. But why would it be hidden?

Taking a cloth out of her pocket, she wrapped the materia up and put it in her pocket then dug in her bag for a plastic tube to put the delicate document in so she could study it in the future.

"What the hell are you hiding, Shin-Ra?" she muttered under her breath.

A calm presence filled the room, and she knew it wasn't hers. It wasn't frightening, yet it wasn't comfortable. But the presence was good enough for her to ignore and not think of as a threat. It felt old, like it was down there for ages, and has not set foot on the surface for decades.

Could it be that man? Nanashi questioned herself.

"Hey, Nanashi! Hurry up, the storm's getting pretty rough! And I doubt you'd want to stay the night here, do ya?" Alester's voice called from up the staircase almost jokingly.

Sighing, she'd never figure the presence out, but she got what she came for, at least.

"I'll be up there soon, I'll catch up!" Nanashi called out, before slipping her bag off of her back and set down books and documents that she already read, and picked up a few new ones that she also found within the hidden compartment. Hopefully, it held the information that she wanted this time.

After quickly shoving them in her bag, she buckled it and slung it on her shoulder before running out the door with much added grace.

As she trotted up the stairs, she failed to notice that the basement door that was normally closed, was now open a crack, allowing any sound to go inside and tunnel into the canals of Vincent's ears.

His mind was awake, yet he didn't bother to open his eyes. He heard everything.

And amongst all the mutterings that Nanashi made while reading brief parts of the documents, and mutterings on stories that she was told by Rori, he learned that Sephiroth was dead. And the slight pulls at his heart made him think of Lucrecia. If she were able to live her last breath to this very day, he wondered how she'd feel. No, he mustn't think of her. He's still atoning for his sins, and thinking of Lucrecia will haunt him more than it already did.

And the death of Sephiroth wasn't that much of a big surprise. Lucrecia helped create him, and all those Jenova cell injections was bound to screw him up. And now he could only wonder how many injections Nanashi has received.

Thoughts wondered back to where Lucrecia rested in peace, behind the walls of Mako Crystal.

Lucrecia he fluttered his crimson eyes open, thinking back to the past that still plagued his memory, the image still fresh like it happened just yesterday. Back to where Lucrecia was studying Jenova with Hojo, where Sephiroth was born, up till the day she had died.

He wasn't able to make it to her funeral, if she ever had one that is…

He vaguely remembered the pain in his forehead where Hojo fired a gun at him, up to the point where he awoke on the surgery table, feeling cold, and different. The usual tingling feeling he'd feel all over his body, didn't occur through his left arm. Looking at the cause of it made his insides boil, and the creature buried within himself was released, confusing him greatly.

What also caused curiosity in him were the similarities he found between both Sephiroth and Nanashi, they were almost twins, except for a few facial features and hair colour. Nanashi, of course, is Wutaiese. Sephiroth only had a small proportion in him, but it was noticeable with his eye shape and his nose being straight. He knows he's gone through this thought once before, but it bothered him enough to keep him awake since the day she awoke him.

Closing his eyes, the images of Nanashi's eyes flashed across his mind.

Just with one look into them, he knew she seen everything. And that everything was the experiences under the knife, being observed from the insides, like a student studying the anatomy of an animal's or human's body through dissection.

And she was still learning. She had a lot to learn about Shin-Ra, and she was barely getting started. Those documents she found were set there to help her greatly, since he was the one to put them there. Well, he really didn't expect her to find it; he was more so expecting someone in the future would find it before her. He really just hid it there so no one would find out what happened to him and his relationship with Lucrecia.

Why wasn't he effected that she found what he wanted to be hidden? He felt as if he could trust her with his secrets that she'd be able to understand more than the future newcomers.

He knew she'll be coming for answers, and he'll be waiting. But getting the answers out of him would be the harder part. Once a Turk, always a Turk. Even though he was no longer in the position to be one, one rule stuck with one, and will stick with them always. Keeping secrets is the first priority, and they will stay with one, until that person dies, but it's solely up to the person on if they want to tell it someone or not.

Perhaps a few tests will determine whether Nanashi could learn of these secrets, and if not, he'll just order her away. It worked before.

* * *

_Please teach me  
__The truth…  
__Please tell me  
__The crime…_

_As my hidden self is  
__Wet with red tears…  
__Only affection is becoming greater_

_I can't remember anything  
__Not even the name of the past  
__I can't do anything anymore_

_The moon is always, quietly,  
__Letting the rain keep falling…_

_Fragrance - Gackt_

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I had it finished for a week, I just didn't feel like removing the HTML codes. Oh, and Vincent will be showing a bit more in the next chapter. I know you guys are getting tired of hardly seeing any Vincent in a Vincent story, but work with me here. I have everything planned out, and whining isn't going to make me change any of it. Thank you, that is all.


	8. Make You Free

_Losing the destination in the fleeing, rainy night  
__Staring at tomorrow, simply, the time just keeps flowing.  
__As for the strange feeling eye, which closes.  
__Seeing the view, which is accustomed in seeking for eternity._

_Fly away, you feared.  
__I was the bird, which crawls the area._

_The lost wing expands now._

_-Waka_

* * *

"Testing, testing, you there sir?" Alester asked on the radio, also allowing static to broadcast through the device, causing Nanashi to cringe.

"I told you not to bring that! The metal and level of Mako within this mountain interferes with the radio reception. Turn it on when we really need it, mine will remain on" Nanashi ordered him, digging a finger in her ear, hoping that it'd ebb away the slight pain the screeching did to her cerebellum.

"Just wanted to make sure of our radios, can't be too relaxed in this area after all those recent attacks" Alester jogged to match Nanashi's pace. He also surveyed the area with a scrutinizing gaze, daring anything to jump out at them with a certain level of arrogance. Leave it to Alester in attracting attention, mostly from trouble amongst other things.

Speaking of which, he still hasn't turned his radio off. And with each step he took with that little jog had forced out more screeches from the device, causing her to cringe and freeze in a rather odd but amusing stance every time a shiver runs up her spine.

Rori forced back a chuckle as he unhooked the radio from Alester's belt.

"It wouldn't be wise to irritate the head of this mission, Alester. Play with this." Rori dug out a "Pocket Poker" from, obviously, his pocket. It resembled greatly to a GameBoy, but with fewer buttons.

Alester looked insulted from the gesture.

"I will not be degraded-- hey, it chimes" Alester got easily addicted, also making it seem as if their little argument had never happened.

Rori chuckled. How he wished he were Alester's age once more, he being 10 years off from retirement, and Alester was still in his early twenties. Making him feel quite old at the age of 40.

Being in the early 20's was quite young for a new ShinRa Soldier, but a 15-year-old was completely barbaric! It seemed as if ShinRa has a knack for dragging in recruits at a younger age, forcing them to grow up to their customs, hence being emotionless as a mindless drone. He thought that the last event with Sephiroth, where recruits came in at Nanashi's current age as a _will_, and nothing was quite forced-- seemed almost inhumane, evil.

If his eyes weren't open enough to ShinRa's ways back then, they're wide open now after taking a tour through Hojo's laboratory to find a 7-year-old completely submersed in a tank filled with Mako.

And since then, he's taken it as a goal to help free her, help free Nanashi.

Although nothing was said about their relationship, Alester knew that _Nanashi_ is related to Tseng. The resemblance was simply uncanny; it was hard to figure out this secret if you didn't add up the resemblance and similarity in personality. Now that he thought about it, it was most likely ShinRa that caused them this way. If they had a choice, they'd be back in Wutai and trying to sort the problems out there.

The large crack of rocks hitting against each other, falling from a cliff had caught their attention.

Nanashi stuck her hand out, ceasing their motion.

"Sir! We're here to aid you on your mission through destination, Nibelheim Mountain. Vice-President has ordered us to guard you three under every circumstance" one of the Major's came running over a small hill, trying to keep his breath going at a easy pace after running for so long.

"Did you know about this, sir?" Alester asked, eyeing the running Major in suspicion.

"So they finally come" Nanashi stated, ignoring Alester's question. "It's a good thing they came later than what was assigned, or else it'd cause forms of panic through the town" she said to herself, but wasn't in so much of a concern for the town. The town was practically dead, and everyone seemed to have bordered them selves off from the outer world due to the Mako pollution in the air.

More rocks seemed to have fallen over the ledge, and all the 3rd class SOLDIERs behind the Major had their guns pointed out around in a circle to shoot at anything that appeared suspicious.

A growl was heard that vibrated the ground, causing any rocks not attached to the earth to rumble around. And Nanashi, having hardly any weight at all, was just like that rock. Although it was amusing to Alester, he knew he'd get slapped later if he didn't help her.

So while forcing back the twitching of his lips, he held Nanashi steady by keeping a firm grip around her slim waist. _If only she were 4 years older_ was his very thought.

The rumbles stopped, and the air was filled with apprehension. Nervousness was being radiated off the 3rd class SOLDIERs, and anxiety filled both Rori and Alester. Only Nanashi remained simply calm, the only motion she made was drawing out a gunblade. If she wasn't able to get close to the monster in time, then at least she can shoot at it while she still can.

The ledge the rocks fell from bursts into a small avalanche of huge boulders, wiping out 4 of the SOLDIERs.

Nanashi cursed silently to herself, but remained completely calm as she started to fire at the monster. The mutated monster was about 8 feet tall, resembled something like a hairless yeti (Kyo: … My description sucks! And it's hilarious, like holy shit! ROFL) and it had this long tongue whipping around in the wind, making a rather dramatic entrance.

Alester and Rori took out their gunblades as well, though they were smaller and less expensive then Nanashi's since they were grabbed from ShinRa's weaponry room.

And since Nanashi was first class, she had the status to be buying her own weapons, while classes lower were practically forced to continue using weapons provided by ShinRa. Something about having yet to learn the quality and strength of their weapon of choice. Nanashi found it rather ridiculous and sort of rebelled, so now she's been using her gunblade since the very beginning of her role in ShinRa, she just had it upgraded each time so that she never really replaced it.

Since teddy bears were children's childhood toy, Nanashi thought of her gunblade as her childhood toy. It just simply can't be replaced.

Firing her gunblade with shots of precision; she managed to ward off the monster from going against her squad. Although most SOLDIERs found it as _'every man for himself'_ didn't qualify to her liking.

Getting close to the monster while it was busy trying to decapitate the men, she jumped up high, releasing her 2 level Limit, Renzokuken.

The men stared in awe as Nanashi appeared to have disappeared and reappeared in front of the monster, executing her Limit as a series of slashes with excellent precision, leaving them in awe as the monster fell to the ground while leaking out rivers of Mako.

"It appears that you don't really need all of us." Rori finally said after a moment of silence.

"Even if I don't, it's still wise if you stuck around me longer if you value your life" Nanashi sheathed her gunblade and proceeded down the path.

The SOLDIERs glanced at each other before trotting to catch up.

Rori shook his head in exaggeration at the squad before walking at a leisurely pace behind, followed by a laughing Alester who clutched his sides in mirth.

* * *

With 6 more attacks later and 3 more SOLDIERs following, the rest of them finally made it towards the Rope Bridge. The remaining SOLDIERs dwindled down to a 13 in number.

Alester whistled as he kicked a rock over the ledge, watching it combust as it hits the rocks below.

"Might want to be careful, the lands around here are known to shift and break apart. Pretty soon we'll have a second class SOLDIER gone missing" Nanashi warned, stepping foot across the bridge.

Alester jumped back like a scared little rabbit, causing Rori to break out in laughter.

"How can she say such a thing so calmly? It's almost as if she went through the same thing before and witnessed people splat like a pancake." Alester said, watching the bridge sway in the Nibelheim wind.

"Don't forget, she's a trained first class soldier" Rori mentioned before he too walked across the bridge, but merely tested his weight on it instead of boldly walking across like Nanashi had just displayed. He, being a grown muscled man, had his weight doubled compared to the small, slim and slightly toned teenage girl.

By the time Rori made it half way across, Nanashi had already ventured ahead to check the caves for any more danger.

"Okay, men! Listen up, only one person at a time will cross this bridge. We need to be as careful as possible now that there is so few of us" Rori instructed, before carefully making his way across the bridge, relaying silent prayers for the remaining group of SOLDIERs.

Safely, they all made it across with minor mishaps.

Few of the SOLDIERs were slightly more nervous after witnessing one of their men almost cave through the bridge and had to quickly haul the man out before he caused any more damage to the remaining pieces of wood around that spot. That would've been a huge gap to make across, seeing as there was still 5 men lined up and ready to cross.

Alester was amazed with the cave they had to venture through. Even though the air smelt of Mako, some of the shining in walls glittered with materia that was too young in stage to be used in battle.

In his amazement, he veered away from the group by accident, and landed at a room in the cave where sunlight peered through and shined down on what looked to be an old fountain.

The fountain was beautiful, even if it was almost dried up. There was a small stream of pure Mako running through, and even so, it remained pretty.

"That's a Mako fountain." Alester straightened up for the newcomer.

"I'm surprised it still has yet to be sucked up, though it's on the verge of being totally dried. Beautiful, isn't it?" Nanashi sided beside him, running her finger across the stone fountain.

Alester remained silent, soaking in the small bit of scenery before turning towards her.

"I'm ready to leave when you are, sir" he saluted, suddenly gone serious.

Usually when people see something so inspiring, they feel motivated to finish their objective. And seeing this, Nanashi twitched her lip in amusement, and also straightened out.

"I told the others to go on, so it'd be wise to catch up" Nanashi ordered.

Just as they left the Mako Fountain's cave room, screams were heard up ahead along with a barrage of bullets coming from their machine guns. A loud roar from a monster was heard as well, jingling through the cave and hurting Nanashi's ears.

"Aaahh" she screamed in pain, clutching her hands over her ears tightly. It was almost deafening.

"Sir! We have to check up on them, hurry!" Alester cried out in alert, tugging the still recovering Nanashi behind him as if she were his only lifeline. Which she basically was, since even though he was strong, him and the others wouldn't be able to get out alive without her help.

By the time they reached the scene, Nanashi had already recovered.

The sight before them was gruesome. 5 of the SOLDIERs were down on the ground, brutally hacked away by claws of the mutated creature. This time, the monster was bigger than the others were. So this meant that this bigger one, was the one that bred and created the smaller ones.

Disturbing, yet amazing.

The rest of the remaining SOLDIERs were still firing their guns, but quickly ran out of bullets.

The monster swung his claw at a few, but didn't succeed.

Nanashi stood before it, holding the claws off with her gunblade. She knew her sword would be pretty much damaged by the time the fight was over, but at least she used it to protect the men.

And right now, it was a test of masculinity.

Even with her enhanced strength through Jenova cells and Mako, she still had a bit of a struggle.

The monster lifted its other claw without her noticing.

"Sir! Watch out, it's going to attack with its other claw!" Alester shouted out since he knew he couldn't do anything but watch. And at the moment, he was regretting it since after all, Nanashi was saving their asses.

The claw descended, and Alester's screams still shrilled in the air.

Sharp, yet seemed like it was coming from god. Bullets barraged at the monster skillfully, unlike the SOLDIERs who shot at the monster blindly in fear, hoping that it'd just fall over and die.

The claw recoiled, as did the monster.

Mako blood gushed out of the bullet wounds, quickly killing the mutation. And Nanashi being unfortunate had gotten splashed in the face with the substance.

"Sir, are you alright?" Alester asked in concern, tugging a handkerchief from his pocket and proceeded in helping her get the green goo off of her face that was sludged over her right eye.

"I'm… fine." Nanashi replied slowly after wiping the goo away from her lips so that she didn't taste it when she spoke. "But gather up those unknown bullets, I want to find out who they belonged to. Also, grab a few samples from the mutation, President ShinRa requested it for testing" Nanashi ordered.

"You heard the lady, gather the bullets and samples, now!" Alester ordered out to the men.

They quickly saluted and did as told, while two others moved the dead out of the way in respect.

Rori appeared by their sides with a deep wound in his shoulder. But thanks to the few Mako injections he received when he upgraded to first class, he was already healing, but not as fast as Nanashi was able to.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked, not really concerned for his shoulder.

"No, fix your shoulder, we're almost done here so you better get it wrapped up before we leave" she ordered before turning to the rest of the men.

"As much as I hate to do this, we still need to keep moving. Whoever shot those bullets could be a possible enemy and attack us when we least expect it" Nanashi ordered, fingering the bullets in her pocket before leading the group to the entrance of the reactor.

Staring up at it, she felt a foreboding sense.

She ordered the group to stay guard, while she brought in Alester and Rori seeing as they were close to her class, but only one position down. The third class soldiers stuck to guarding the place, since they weren't authorized in position, or by a superior to remain with her.

"If you see any of the tanks open, call for me" Nanashi ordered the two, before examining the tanks.

"Yes, sir!" Alester and Rori saluted before going through each row of tanks.

"Oh, and do not, I repeat, do not look in the tanks" Nanashi said strictly, receiving the men's words of understanding, whether it'd be a grunt, or a simple _'yes, sir.'_

Nanashi stepped up to one of the tanks, noticing that it seemed to be separated from the rest. Eyeing it in suspicion, she stepped up in curiosity as to why it was so special to receive such a dignified place. Seeing as she was short to see through the little window of the egg shaped container, she used the edges to hoist herself up to look inside.

What she saw was fear. Her own fear being reflected back at her. And once you see through that reflection, you see something so horrid.

"Christ! What has ShinRa been up to?" she asked herself.

As if hearing her question, the monster within opened its eyes and made a shrill cry, fighting against the walls holding it in, causing Nanashi to get thrown off with the sudden quake.

Flying off, she slid across the floor.

"Sir!" Alester and Rori said simultaneously, while trying their hardest to keep the creature inside the tank so that it wouldn't fall on top of their commander.

Nanashi ignored both of them, going in a sort of trance while staring up at the ceiling. She noticed a little hole at the top, must've rusted through some time ago. And through that hole came water dripping through, also known as rainwater, seeing as it came in non-stop.

The men outside were groaning at their luck into having to be stuck out in the rain.

But none of that mattered, what she saw held her in a trance like fear. So many questions that needed answers, she felt as if she experienced this sort of thing before. And questions she never even though of flown through her head.

_"Was this how I was created?"  
__"Was I so fortunate enough as to not have turn into this… this thing?"  
__"Either way, am I still a monster?"  
__"Am I not normal as a SOLDIER can get?"_

And.

_"Is this why I feel disgusted with myself for… so long?"_

* * *

_Already the sky has left far,_  
_Important ones are continued directly  
__To your forgotten song.  
__The sound will probably be transmitted to me, who is lost._

* * *

The image of a tall man clad in black with long silver hair, struggling with himself had faded away from her mind as the cries of her comrades has gotten louder, trying to get her attention.

Shaking her thoughts away, she jumped up and easily shut the door.

More than half of the container's fluid contents has been drained on the floor, causing it to get slippery while the creature inside breathed its final breath with another shrill cry before dying off.

Alester and Rori were panting, trying to get their heart to settle out the fear and adrenaline from the event that they had just witnessed.

"What the fck is ShinRa creating?" Alester cried out in anger.

"Calm down, Alester. What ShinRa does is none--" Alester cut Rori off.

"How the hell am I going to calm down when this thing nearly came out and does who _knows_ what! For crying out loud, it would've ripped the commander apart if we weren't there to stop it from hurting her while she recovered!" Alester kicked the container, causing the pipes leading into it to snap off.

Steam blew out of it, and the door creaked open.

Both men's breath hitched, watching as the dead creature fell on top of Nanashi.

"S-s-sir?" Rori asked, hoping she wouldn't react to it.

…

…

…

_"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"_

* * *

"Professor Hojo… **_Professor Hojo!"_**

"What?!" Hojo snapped irritably at the ever-persistent Alester who was only merely trying to gain his attention.

"Will Sir, be alright?" Alester asked in worry.

"Yes, yes. She merely had a panic attack that's all. Now do you mind, I'm trying to focus!" Hojo sneered at the man who fluttered around him like a bird while he was trying to find out Nanashi's Jenova and Mako levels.

"Panic attack? I didn't think SOLDIERs were able to have one" Alester muttered to himself.

"Yes, yes. They don't normally have one. Nanashi is special, strong yet delicate. The perfect specimen with a few minor childhood diseases that is easily curable, now leave!" Hojo ordered, finally getting the test result back in.

"Looks like I'll be giving you a few more shots" he grinned devilishly while shaking Nanashi's arm, as if to put some excitement into her unconscious figure.

Alester's lip curled in disgust, finding it disturbing that Hojo enjoys experimenting on humans.

The door to the laboratory opened, causing both men to look up to watch as Vice President Rufus enter the room, glancing at Alester before ignoring him all together while holding a conversation with Hojo that concerned Nanashi.

"Will she be alright?" he asked with what sounded like some amount of concern.

"She'll be fine after a few shots," Hojo grinned some more, but deviously. "She only had a panic attack, and this boy brought her in unconscious" his eyes shifted towards Alester who held his gaze with slight defiance. Shriveling his face up in distaste, he was only snapped out of it when Rufus irritably tried to catch his attention.

"Just why does she need more shots? I thought we told you that you're through with experimenting on her and that means no more shots!" Rufus growled out, narrowing his eyes in distaste for the professor.

"I'm not _experimenting_ on her, I'm just _saving_ her life" Hojo drawled out slowly in exaggeration.

"Well you can _obviously_ do that-- what are you doing?!" Rufus snapped, watching as Hojo pulled out a few more syringes.

"Be quiet, I'm only going to boost up her immune system" Hojo snapped, quickly stabbing each syringe into Nanashi's arm, one at a time.

Rufus was currently seething on spot, the hate and anger in his eyes burned as a huge flame, hoping that it'd ignite Hojo within its path. Of course, they all want that, but sadly it never happened.

Alester glanced at the seething conversationalists, stared at the puddle of mush (due to the recent injections) called Nanashi and then nodded to himself in a declaration that he should leave.

On his way down the hall, he passed the red haired Turk. He was familiar, since he was seen with Nanashi almost all the time, though he never took the time to learn his name. It could've popped up in a conversation a few times before, but he never really paid attention.

Right now his only main concern was Nanashi, and hoping that she wouldn't _turn_ into another Sephiroth.

* * *

"What's up, yo?" Reno walked into the laboratory, only to peel his eyes away at a scantily dressed Nanashi who was only in her underwear, propped up in Hojo's arms who growled at the Turk.

"Don't you people ever knock?!" he cried out viciously.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! All I wanted to see was how Nanashi was doing" Reno ran his eyes across the teenagers body in a slight form of lust, but the other side of him debated against it with a better judgement.

"Yes, yes, yes. So I've heard from everyone else, now quick, take her! I have other things to do" Hojo handed Nanashi to Reno's open arms and waved him off.

Reno stood in slight confusion, raising his eyebrow in question at the pacing professor while he muttered his scientific knowledge to himself.

Hojo noticed that the Turk didn't leave and scowled. "What are you waiting for? Leave!"

Reno quickly fumbled his way out of the door with a barely dressed girl in his arms, who he held affection for, and tried not to make himself look guilty as he walked down the hall towards Nanashi's old room from when she used to live within the ShinRa building.

Walking by the questioning eyes of Tseng, Rude, and the newly recruited Turk in training, Elena, he shrugged at their wondering and walking into the room.

"Is that the SOLDIER sir always goes on about?" Elena asked in curiosity towards her crush.

Tseng sighed, feeling the concern bubble away at his insides. "Yes. Speciman 67a, Nanashi. She just came back from a mission and has recently been promoted to General," he twitched at the fact that his cousin was slowly becoming another Sephiroth.

Elena's eyes widened into saucers, and glanced back at the room Reno just entered with the newly promoted General in his arms.

"How come she's like that?" she asked, curious as to why she was _asleep_ and dressed in so few.

Tseng sighed again, feeling the concern corroding now at his insides, almost making him want to turn back around and demand to see his cousin. "During the mission, an incident has been encountered. Reno's taking care of it now" he replied, closing his eyes and putting his trust in Reno to not act so perversely like he's known to be.

"Ooo Is something going on between--" Elena got cut off from her teasing.

"Elena, _please_…"

Elena obeyed Tseng's silent order to shut up, and could only wonder why her crush looked so worried every time she asked a question, which only grew when he answered those questions.

It appeared as if he's trying to reassure himself about something, so she left him alone.

* * *

_Already the sky has left far,  
__Because how it is not a wasteful thing, is understood  
__You have forgotten the power, which still lives  
__Narrated to my heart, which refuses_

_The sky which goes on forever  
__It probably can stop, or…_

Feathers of Sorrow - DangerGang

* * *

**A/N:** D: I'm sorry for procrastinating for so long, things have been quite jumbled for me during the past few weeks. And now I'll be concentrating on one fic at a time so that I won't stress the crap out of myself XD. Any who, chapter 9 is in progress, whoo! I hope to get it out before next weekend, or the end of Easter holiday. D: And right now, I have to go make cookies and such, haaaw. Review! For it makes me happy as a turtle! Also, I had to translate the Japanese lyrics myself seeing as the one I found on LJ was crap. :


	9. My Beloved

_My Beloved  
__Don't cry, show me a smile.  
__I didn't say I liked seeing tears, did I?_

_My beloved  
__It's all right, you're not lonely, now.  
__Just when you're lonely, I'm lonely too?_

_My beloved  
__Don't open your closed eyes just yet, ok.  
__Just like that… just like that… but don't go to sleep. (laugh)_

_-Miyavi_

It seemed that Nanashi couldn't go a day in a week without seeing Hojo. Once again, she was caged within a tank, being studied closely by Hojo, Reno, Alester, and Rori.

"What the hell is taking so long, yo?" Reno asked the question that rang in everyone's minds.

Hojo sneered, sending a rather dry look at Reno with the corner of his eyes. "It doesn't take scientific knowledge to state the fact that she's sleeping, you idiot" he said, pushing up his glasses towards the bridge of his nose with a finger.

Reno growled at being called an idiot, and was restrained by Rori.

"Settle down, Reno! Don't cause a scene on our visit with sir!" he said, trying to calm down the raging Turk.

Reno shrugged off Rori's hands, and took a deep breath to relax his fiery nerves.

"Sir? Who are you calling, sir? And since when were we on a first name basis, yo?" Reno asked, fixing out his uniform to rid some of the wrinkles. Well, the most recent wrinkles of course.

"Well, Nanashi of course" Rori smiled, ignoring the fact that Reno didn't want to call him by first name. "We've been instructed to call anyone with respect that, so we chose to call General Nanashi that."

Reno twitched when he fit General with Nanashi together.

It brought back faint yet scarred memories of the past General who he slightly grew up with when he first started out as a Turk. It also brought back a pain in his chest when he thought of one of his close friends, who was a sort of close friend to Sephiroth as well-- named Zack.

"And just why exactly is she sleeping for so long?" Alester rose an eyebrow, not taking notice that it seemed to have caught Reno and Rori's attention.

"Nanashi is simply _dreaming_, is what you people could call it. But her _dreams_ are merely memories that the shots I gave her must have dug up" Hojo rubbed his chin while studying Nanashi's brain waves on a scale machine, along with her heart beat on a separate scale machine. "Yes, yes, interesting," he muttered to himself, smirking deviously.

"What's up, now, yo?" Reno asked, slightly irritated with the senior.

"I think I may have dug up memories of a sore spot" Hojo replied with a larger smirk, eyes glinting with slight maliciousness and a boost of insanity. Reno to say was slightly weary of him and took a step back while sticking his protective gaze on the floating girl in the tank. "The memories, _dear_ Turk," Hojo's voice was lined with amusement with each stress, "would be that of her mother!"

Reno's face disrupted in anger with his pearly white teeth showing in a growl, opposite from that of his trademark, goofy grin.

Reno knew that Nanashi's mother was a sore spot, since she forgot every memory of her. He found out when he one day asked why he didn't do things a woman would do, and why her mother never taught her the basics. He still remembers the weighing guilt he felt up to that very day.

Before Reno was able to say something, guards on Hojo's order pulled everyone out against their will.

"I can't have people mess things up for me, the time for Nanashi is drawing nearer and nearer" he grinned, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose where the white light reflected off and made him look sadistic. "Yes, soon, Shuurai will awaken once again. Our Reborn project will be put into action without me having to lift a finger" he broke out in laughter within his self-speech.

"And when that happens, no one would be able to stop her. Jenova is a minority to none in this project, Vanir, the first gods to step on Gaia.

People now, all thought that the Cetera were the first people. Of course, first people, but not gods.

And Hojo wouldn't have been able to figure this out if it wasn't for Nanashi's mother, a descendant of Freya-- the goddess of love and beauty. Of course, the gene has shown with every generation of girl that was born. And now Nanashi was the last one, since her mother, along with a descendant of Freyr has died.

Hojo was hoping to find out who the last descendant was, and the person to do that, is Nanashi.

And he still believes that this descendant is still alive out there somewhere, otherwise Nanashi wouldn't become so different than what she was the first day she came to live outside of the tank. Yes, he's been rather observant of her lately, and this new improvement on her behalf led him to believe that Nanashi has been in connection with the other Vanir without even knowing of it.

The only thing he regretted at the moment was that the project he was working on that can connect a person dreaming, to project out visually as if it were a TV of some sort.

Smirking, Hojo decided he'd let her off the hook this time, but then the real fun began once his new invention has been completed. And with that, he left the laboratory, with the lights about Nanashi to remain on. And all that was left of his presence was the ever-wondering chuckle.

* * *

_"Why… does my head hurt?" Nanashi asked herself, clutching so pathetically onto her head._

_Nanashi blinked, actually having to feel warm flesh, so soft. Looking down at her hands, she realized that she was able to __feel._

_A shiver ran up her spine, thinking she died after she's been injected with whatever Hojo gave her._

_"So this is what death feels like…" she pondered off, drifting in the realms of darkness so casually. Being a trained SOLDIER, now General had forced herself in a variety of situations to remain calm. And this situation was only minor to what she's been through before._

_Shrugging off the past, she then realized she had to accomplish whatever she was set out to do in her mind. _

_Nodding to herself, she figured it'd be the only way out._

"So this is what death feels like…"

* * *

Running without a destination, she just had to get away.

Growing up in Wutai in such a large economy can sometimes be quite a challenge. Especially when it was to get away from the ones she was running away _from._

"Get back here you little shrimp, _mommy_ didn't please me to way she was supposed to, so I might as well get it from playing with you" the man called from behind, having full intentions on beating the snot out of her.

"Go away, go away, leave me alone!" she cried, turning a corner to sprint down an alley but ended up getting caught on a nail and flung away like an elastic band, and finally skidded after a few feet.

Panting, she ignored the stinging sensation that burned in her raw knees and palms and jumped away to withdraw from the grasping hands of her predator.

The man skidded as she had done, but on his stomach.

"Why you little bastard, I'll get you!" he screamed out venomously, his eyes marked with that of a hunter's instinct.

To kill.

Trying to crawl away, but found that it was unsuccessful as the man latched onto her foot, yanking her close to him and clutched her foot against his chest before viciously thrashing around, awaiting that precious crack he'd so enjoy as he broke her foot.

Nanashi's mouth was wide open in a silent scream, suppressing the noise so that her captor wouldn't enjoy that _sweet melody_ of pain.

The man oddly had the urge to bite into her leg, a sadistic look flashing across his black eyes.

Neither could figure out why he seemed so possessed to inflict pain upon a mere child, even when the man was drunk, he wouldn't dare as to hurt much of a fly. So why did he feel animalistic, even so far as cannibalism?

Simple. He thrived on the desirable amount of energy radiating off the girl, attracting even the kindest of folk to attack her just because they couldn't get enough of it.

Smirking, he was about to crunch his jaws upon her calf, if only that terrible shock didn't go through him.

As much as he didn't want to let go, unconsciousness seemed to have fought control and he was knocked out, loosening his grip on Nanashi's leg, allowing her to free herself to examine the situation.

The man still had his hand extended out, looking like a classical murder scene, whereas his knee was also extended up. His clothes were a little beaten up, his hair looked to have gone under some static shock, and there was a trail of saliva running out of his open mouth. He could've been easily mistaken as a drunk.

Blinking, her hand instinctively gripped at the spot over her heart that she done in a nervous habit, but then shook it off and crawled a good distance away from him, got up, and ran off.

She decided not to tell anyone, not like they'd listen to her anyway.

If she'd told her mother, she would badger her about not bothering her while she does _business._ Though, Nanashi never really understood what her mother really did, just that it was adult oriented. And that the business was possibly one of the biggest ones in Wutai.

Her right hand still clutched above her heart as she evaded everybody on the streets, and proceeded to the Blooming Lotus Inn where her mother worked.

People looked down at her with surprise or pity, she never understood why. She asked her mother once, but then her mother requested that they should _reprimand_ her, which was commonly known as being whipped or slapped. Again, Nanashi didn't understand this. When parents punish their children, it's usually through argument or grounding, but not one had she noticed had been whipped or physically hurt.

Stopping at the entrance of the Inn, she panted and stared at the thick wooden doors. She couldn't summon up the courage to go straight through them, people said that it was forbidden for her to go through.

And every time she came close to it, she heard moaning sounds, and with her heightened senses, also the sound of something being sloshed, along with the smell of musk in the air. She was used to the smell though, since it always seemed to come out of her mother's room as well. In fact, the whole place had that same aura about it and was rather stingy when it came to covering up the smell with scented candles.

_'Why the hell would we waste good candles just for a bastard child, they're for the customers.'_ Her mother would always say every time she got curious about the sounds and smells lingering in the air before she went to bed.

Today seemed to be a bit different compared to the usual slinking behind the building, climbing up to her window with the help of vines, she instead, stood there, pondering.

"Get out of the way-- Oh, you're that whore's daughter!" a voice chuckled from behind.

Nanashi cringed visibly, hating the way his voice slurred at the end. His chuckle wasn't all that soothing as well. He sounded quite gruff and somewhere in his late 30's as well.

Turning around, she looked up at the foreign man who had an unshaken face, a stubby chin and missing teeth when he grinned down at her. His clothes were sloppy and a mess, and in his hand he held a bottle of beer.

"Are you going in or what?" he asked.

"Don't be shy, eat it up! I made it for your mother, but she seems a bit busy" the man said, tapping his knuckles against the wall of Nanashi's room that was side by side with her mother's.

The groans on the other end stopped for a moment, before picking up once again.

"I swear, she has the energy of a panther and the lungs of a banshee" he chuckled, taking a sip out of his bottle.

Questions swirled in her mind and all Nanashi could do was listen to the man's rambles.

"I suppose you're wondering who I am" the man grinned, exposing his missing teeth once again.

"The name's Kunio, and I'm assuming that you're Shuurai, eh? Takara's daughter. You know, she won't stop complai-- never mind, forget about that. And as to how I'm connected to you, you'll find out someday" he smiled. "Now eat and drink up, I don't want anything go to waste."

Nanashi stared down at her bowl of miso soup before up turning her gaze on Kunio; suspicious as to why he's nice to her now, even after calling her mother a whore.

Kunio caught her pondering gaze, and only smiled at her.

"I hope you like the sushi I made, I heard that it was also your favourite" Kunio grinned once more, before digging away at his bowl of Udon, going at an unbelievable pace with the chop sticks.

Nanashi blinked apathetically at him a few times before testing everything.

When she was very young, she watched her mother pour in a flower extract from a plant she's never seen before, only to find that it had high rated toxins in it that could instantly kill a person. Of course, she found this out after feeding it to the landlady's cat. And since then, she's been very cautious.

The feeling of betrayal always hit her hard every time someone offered her food.

After finding out that the soup and sushi didn't taste anything out of the ordinary, she dug in like a starved man who hasn't eaten for weeks.

Kunio stared at her in concern and what seemed to be hatred. Hate for her? She didn't know.

"Has Takara been feeding you right? Let alone, treating you right?" he asked in suppressed fury.

Nanashi stared down at his clenched fists warily, choosing the correct words to answer him with.

"… I don't know" she shifted her gaze around, feeling as if her mother had a hidden camera somewhere hidden in her room. Somewhere in the back of her mind screamed that this was all a set-up so that her mother can find another way to punish her for existing, again. Yet, her frontal voice that held fairness-- reasoned that she should give this guy a chance to be let in.

Nanashi knew he was looking down at her with those eyes everyone else had when seeing what her mother was, and what she did to her.

She was naïve to what was wrong and what was right, but she did know that that abuse she put up with was wrong. And seeing as her mother was her only living relative that she knew, she had no where else to go but to stay at the whore house with her mother who wanted nothing to do with her. And now she realized all of that, along with the fact that her mother never ceased to continue reminding her-- that she only did it for the child support money.

Kunio stared down at the clothes Nanashi was dressed in. And what he saw, he knew that Takara could do better than the rags her daughter was wearing.

And not to mention giving the child a healthy diet to where every rib should not be counted.

His eyes softened that much he knew. Somewhere in his heart he yearned to tell her all about him and scream out that he knew about her other relatives and that he himself-- he shook his head to rid of that thought. No way would he tell her that as of yet. If anyone figured out who he was, then his days in Wutai was good as over.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before pulling out a package and handed it to Nanashi.

"Your mother wanted me to give you this in case she couldn't. I know your mother is better than this, but people change especially when their past is still there to catch up with them" Kunio thought of Nanashi's dad and glared, but softened up at her stature, looking ready to defend herself if need be.

_'What has she done to you, love?'_ he thought in sadness.

"Take it. Don't worry, it's not a ticking time bomb" he reassured, unraveling the string for her.

Nanashi's tiny, malnourished hands grabbed the package away from him as if it were delicate porcelain. Even the tiniest touch from her sent shivers up his spine from the coldness. He wondered how many times she's gotten ill from being cold and malnourished.

The brown-papered package opened to reveal a male's kimono, looking to be used for Wutaiese samurai from long ago. She stared at it in question, then directed it up towards Kunio.

Why was he giving her something only a man can wear? Women were ninja, while men were samurai.

Kunio chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry about that, I'm sure the world would keep turning if a woman were to wear a man's kimono and hold a katana. If anything, there shouldn't be a law as to which direction people of different sex should travel on" he said with clouded eyes, going off in his own personal thought.

If Nanashi didn't know better, this man was starting to sound pretty gay.

"But enough about my rambling, what are you learning in school?" he asked with a kind smile.

Nanashi distracted herself by fumbling with the hems of her new kimono and bit her lip, wanting to ask a question that she knew would stray from what he asked.

She was going to answer… but…

"Why?"

"Huh?" Kunio leaned back in confusion, staring down at Nanashi from the little outburst she made.

"Why, what?" he asked softly.

"Why are you being so nice to me? Why are you giving me a kimono that looks and feels expensive, why are you giving me a lot of good food? Why?!" Nanashi cried out, her eyes twitching with that sensation of tears wanting to build up, but never did.

Kunio blinked at her with his mouth slightly agape then continued to smile.

"That kimono used to be mine when I was a little boy, a little older than you are now so it might be a bit big" he trailed off, then scratched the back of his head. "I thought your mother was going to have a little boy when she was pregnant with you. So I was going to give it to _him_, but… instead, she had a beautiful baby girl" he smiled with warmness spreading into his eyes, looking down at her with love a father would give to comfort their child.

Nanashi shot her head up to look at him, done playing with the hems of the kimono for what he said, drew her away. She felt shocked and loved for the first time.

"But--"

"And whatever your mom tells you, you'll always be beautiful. I have a feeling that in the future, you'll be attracting a lot of men" he chuckled, patting Nanashi on the head. "And I guess I can't protect you then, seeing as I'm old and times are changing" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Nanashi had a feeling that this man near middle-aged man knew something about her and wasn't telling.

"You're unique, Shuurai. Sometimes you'll feel different from the other children and adults around you, but just keep your chin up high. And if you're sad, your Oji-san will cry" he pretended to bawl his eyes out, earning a smile from his niece.

Kunio laughed out loud with another twinkle in his eyes filled with happiness.

"Now, tell your dear ol' oji-san what you learned in school" he said, patting his knees.

Nanashi, feeling safe and secure with her uncle, crawled over and plopped herself on his knee and started to tell him about what she learned the day before in class.

"We learned how to work materia and what kind of magic it makes" Nanashi explained.

"Ah, so my little niece is really smart, eh?" Kunio stuck his nose up in the air in a fake snotty way. "Well, that earns you a prize" he said, digging in his pocket and pulled out red materia.

"Here, I've been waiting for you to get older, but decided to give it to you now. It's a materia no one knows about yet, since it's been traveling in our family for generations" he said, placing it in Nanashi's hands and then closed it up with her fingers.

Nanashi looked down at her hand in wonder, feeling the sense of belonging in her hands, like she was holding a whole world willing to accept her.

"Its name is Griever" he stated, watching Nanashi in her childish awe. It sort of sent a feeling down to his stomach in a good sense. "You're probably wondering why I'm giving you such a rare summoning materia by the look you're giving me" he broke out in boisterous chuckles.

"Well," he started, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before staring down at his niece from the corner of his eyes, a smirk crossing his lips. "You'll find out when you're older, you wouldn't exactly understand at this point in life. And when you do find out, think of yourself as unique. Power may be within your very hands and soul, just don't let it corrupt you, or let anyone else control it. I'm not saying don't trust anyone, I'm just saying be cautious as to who you tell, who can keep a secret. Okay?" he said, closing his eyes with a smile as he ruffled Nanashi's hair again.

"Just remember what your oji-san told you."

* * *

_"I only have one good memory of my mother, and that was when she held me that one time I came home with bruises." Nanashi said to herself after reflecting upon the memory of her uncle._

_"So I had an oji-san and I can barely remember him. Yet, he did so much for me. How can I ever forgive him when I don't even know where his whereabouts are. He could be dead, on some other continent, or he's settled down with his own family and thinks __I'm__ dead" Nanashi muttered, feeling an ache in her heart and her eye twitching with the familiar sensation of tears building up._

_"I haven't cried since I was 5, so why now?" she asked, furiously wiping whatever tears she had built up in her eyes._

_She felt the sense of belonging surround her, along with a sort of pulse emanating from her pocket. That pulse drew her to it, almost like it was calling out for her. Her eyes widening in recognition of that feeling, and ripped her hands into her pocket and pulled out the shining red lump that Kunio called _Griever.

**"It's time to wake up, Shuurai."**

_"… M-mother?"_

* * *

Nanashi bolted up from her place on her bed, clutching at her heart while trying to steady her breathing. That dream felt so real, as if she really did have an uncle out there somewhere.

"'Bout friggen time you woke up, and here I thought I made this for nothing."

* * *

_My beloved.  
__It's not, "I could die for you," but rather I've decided, "I'll live for you."  
__Of course, together with you, too.  
__Now, forever, and ever.  
__Don't love yourself anymore, 'cause I'll have what's left over._

* * *

"… R-Reno?" Nanashi rubbed at her eyes, staring up at the red head.

"Have a nice dream, heard you say something and decided I'd check up on you, yo" Reno grinned, then remembered what he came in the room for and pulled out a stack of bento boxes.

"Here, thought you'd want a taste of home, so I've made you this," he said, placing a tray down on her lap and started to separate the stack into several rows. It seemed a bit too much, yet Nanashi felt very grateful for her Turk friend.

"Thanks, Reno, this really means a lot to me" she managed to smile for him.

Reno had a crooked grin on his face, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, well. I've seen you've been under the weather lately, and decided to do something special for you" he said coolly, trying to earn a little more appreciation from her to boost his manly ego.

"Well, t-thanks. I owe you one" Nanashi smiled again, and then dug into her food like a starved man.

Reno admired her, even though food particles were straying out on the bed sheets; he couldn't help but to admire her more than ever. But something tells him that he wouldn't be with her in the future, and he wasn't sure why, but he understood it.

Nanashi needed someone who went through what she went through, shares the same interests, and probably the same lineage.

Sighing with a smile, he flung a piece of rice at Nanashi with a wicked grin.

"Hey!"

But that doesn't mean he has to stop caring for her, and teasing her.

* * *

_My beloved.  
__Even if we were to be born again, because I would be "this" me,  
__And you will be "that" you.  
__And I will say this again, always, always.  
__My beloved… slowly open those eyes.  
__It's the same as always, isn't it?  
__That is good._

_-Itoshii Hito by Miyavi_

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the slow update, chapter 10 is in progress; I just couldn't find the time to post this one last week. And, this song reflects on Kunio. Adorableness. Hopefully I'll get chapter 10 sometime soon, I need to make a welcome back gift chapter for a friend who's been in the hospital for about a month. 


	10. Author's Note

I'm sorry for not being able to update as much anymore. I know it's been a really long time since the last I updated, but I've encountered a few bumps in writing fanfiction. So this Vincent story will be going on hiatus until I've found the will and inspiration to update.

Okay, so I'm not at a total loss for fanfiction. I just lost interest in a lot of my stories.

I've started a few new ones that I'm working on, but oh so slowly. I have an idea for a **new** Vincent story, if you guys are interested in me deleting this one and making a far better one. So while you guys review, I'll be creating a deeper plot for it. :-D

I also have an idea for a Cloud Strife story, though I only have a thought of as to how to start it, and I don't quite have a good plot for it yet.

Send me feedback on what you guys want.

If you don't want me to delete this story, say so. I'll just rewrite it to my liking, but still with the same plot. :-D

Love yeah, to whoever had stuck in there for me.

-Kyoshi


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